





















































November 8, 1897 


THE TRAVEL SERIES —No. 3 
;hed Weekly Price, 50 Cents. Annual Subscription, $25.00 


JERUSALEM 

BY 

JOHN L. STODDARD 


Illustrated and Embellished with One Hundred 
and Twenty-one Reproductions 
of Photographs 



CHICAGO 

BELFORD, MIDDLEBROOK & COMPANY 

MDCCCXCVII 


Copyright, 1897, by John L. Stoddard 









^ OE XWEh £ q- 
» % 

NOV 2 3 1887 

Sfarfe oogt* 


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JERUSALEM 


/ 


BY 


JOHN L. STODDARD 


ILLUSTRATED AND EMBELLISHED WITH ONE HUNDRED 
AND TWENTY-ONE REPRODUCTIONS 
OF PHOTOGRAPHS 




CHICAGO 

BELFORD, MIDDLEBROOK & COMPANY 
MDCCCXCVII 







Copyright. 1897 
By John L. Stoddard 



Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London 


ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 


JERUSALEM 






P ALESTINE has an area only a little larger than the 
State of Massachusetts, while Russia occupies one- 
seventh of the habitable globe; yet in the scales of 
intellectual and moral value the little province of Judaea out¬ 
weighs beyond comparison the empire of the Czar. There 
was a time when, even from a material point of view, Syria 
could not be despised. Rome counted it her richest prov¬ 
ince. One of the choicest gifts which Antony bestowed on 
Cleopatra was the magnificent Palm Grove on the plain of 
Jericho, of which at present not a trace remains. Even. 



RUINS OF CAPERNAUM. 








6 


JERUSALEM 


to-day, with proper irrigation, some districts of the Holy 
Land could offer to the Syrian sun as splendid fields of grain 
as ever fringed the Nile with green and gold. But man’s 
envy of the beauty and fertility of Palestine produced its ruin. 

Lying midway between Assyria and Egypt, and bordered 
on the east by deserts swarming with nomadic warriors, this 



JAFFA. 


land has lain for ages like a beautiful slave in the market¬ 
place, contended for by wrangling rivals. All the great 
powers of antiquity, Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome, Egypt, 
and Arabia, have in turn possessed it; and billows of destruc¬ 
tive conquest have rolled over it like tidal-waves, wrecking its 
architectural glories, and sweeping much of its historic 
splendor into oblivion. 

Association with the past, therefore, is everything in Pal¬ 
estine. Without that charm, of all the countries in the world 
it is perhaps the least attractive. But invoke the aid of mem- 






JERUSALEM 


7 


ory and imagination here, and its once fertile plains will be 
adorned with splendid cities, while over its historic landscapes 
will be hung a veil of romance. Summon from its hills the 
echoes of the past, and every stone will seem a monument and 
every ruined wall a page of history. 

The usual approach to Palestine, it must be said, is not 
romantic. It was early in the morning when the steamer 
which had brought us from Port Said, in Egypt, halted before 
that celebrated seaport of the Holy Land,— now called Jaffa, 
but known in ancient times as Joppa. The city rises almost 
perpendicularly from the sea, and if that sea be rough, no 
traveler will forget his landing there; for, although one of the 
oldest cities in the world, Jaffa has as yet no harbor, and 
half a mile from shore, passengers are lowered from the 
steamer into little boats, manned by gesticulating, howling 
natives. These boats are then with difficulty guided through 
a semi-circular belt of rocks, some of which lift their savage 
tusks above the waves, while others lurk below the surface, 
ready to tear the keel from any vessel that encounters them. 
To one of these rocks, according to mythology, Andromeda 
was chained, until released by her deliverer, Perseus. 

We found the surf which beat upon these reefs even more 
violent than our boatmen. There was continual danger of 
capsizing,—a fate which, just at this particular place, appeared 



LANDING AT JAFFA. 














8 


JERUSALEM 


especially uninviting, since here it was that Jonah, when 
ejected from the ship, is said to have been swallowed by 

however, had so 
appealed to — 
everything with¬ 
in us — that we 
gladly ran all 
risks, and even 
Jonah’s brief 
seclusion in the 
camera obscura 
he was forced to 
occupy, seemed 
not much worse 
than what we 
had endured 
while in our lit¬ 
tle state-rooms. 

At last the ordeal was over, and we found ourselves—a 
trifle pale from our exciting advent through the breakers— 
within a market-place abounding in all kinds of fish and 
fruits, including the unrivaled “Jaffa Oranges.’’ Among 
the traders’ booths and a variety of primitive vehicles moved 
representatives of half a dozen different nationalities. Never 
again shall I be heartless enough to say of my worst enemy— 
“I wish he were in Joppa.’’ Life is too short for such 
severity. I still recall that walk to our hotel, when, hollow- 
hearted from a night of sea-sickness, and moist and mucilag¬ 
inous from the spray that had dashed over us in the boats, 
we picked our way through mud and filth, now dodging 
to avoid a donkey, now almost rubbing noses with a camel, 
and ever and anon inhaling odors which proved that, even 
in this land of sanctity, “cleanliness is’’ not always “ next 
to godliness.’’ 


the whale. The previous stormy night, 



MARKET-PLACE — JAFFA. 







JERUSALEM 


9 


It was in Joppa that Dorcas lived, the good woman who 
was so skilful with her needle; but judging from the ragged 
clothing of the people here, she has had no successors. It 
would be hard to find a place where Dorcas Societies are 
more needed than in Jaffa. 

Nor were the faces that we saw around us calculated to com¬ 
mand either our confidence or admiration. Two men who 
were grinding corn between flat stones looked more like anthro¬ 
poid apes than human beings. One appeared decidedly sad, 
the other jovial, like the familiar portraits of babies “before 
and after using Pitcher’s Castoria.’’ The first possessed a 
face as thickly lined with wrinkles as a piece of corrugated iron, 
and we felt sure that in a storm the rain must run in regular 
channels down his cheeks; while his companion’s countenance 
wore a smile which cut his features into two black hemi¬ 
spheres, leaving his curly beard to wag beneath his chin like a 
small shopping-bag of Astrachan fur. Two other character¬ 
istic specimens of humanity were lounging on the steps of 
the “Twelve Tribes’ Hotel.” One was a Greek, the other 
(several shades 
darker in com¬ 
plexion) was an 
Arab. Both 
were so fanci¬ 
fully dressed, 
that a new¬ 
comer might 
suppose them 
to be singers in 
a comic opera. 

Put Francis 
Wilson in the streets of Jaffa, wearing his make-up as the 
“ Merry Monarch,” or the “Oolah,” and he would seem 
to a tourist just landed there a sight no stranger than most 









10 


JERUSALEM 




of the eight thousand souls that 
constitute the population of this 
Syrian seaport. 

Yet the historical associations 
of Jaffa render it worthy of re¬ 
spectful interest. For ages it has 
been the ocean-gateway to Jeru¬ 
salem. To its portals, in King 
Solomon’s time, was brought the 
wealth of Tyre and Sidon; and on 
the very waves through which our boats had struggled to the 
land, floated, three thousand years ago, the famous cedars of 
Mount Lebanon, sent by a Syrian monarch for the Hebrew 
temple. Jaffa has been possessed successively by Jews, 
Phoenicians, Romans, Moslems, and 
Crusaders, and even the first Napo¬ 
leon left here dark traces of his path 
of conquest; while, century after 
century, pilgrims from every quar¬ 
ter of the globe have made their 
way through this old war-scathed 
city toward the Holy Sepulchre. 

The place in Jaffa most visited 
by these pilgrims is the reputed 
house of Simon the Tanner. There 
are, it is true, two other houses 
which dispute this claim, but this, 
for some cause, is the one exhibited 
by the guides, and thus a handsome 
revenue rewards its owner; for, when 
properly recompensed, he graciously 
conducts all visitors to the flat roof 
on which Saint Peter is alleged to 
have had that dream which warned woman ™ ,akpa. 





JERUSALEM 




A THREE-HORSE COACH. 


him to regard 
no people as 
unclean, but to 
proclaim his 
message of good 
tidings to the 
world at large, 
—not merely to 
the Jew, but also 
to the Gentile. 
There is, of 
course, little 
probability that 
this is really the 
house where 

Peter lodged nineteen centuries ago, though possibly the orig¬ 
inal was quite as unpretentious as the present structure. 
Yet, as a characteristic Oriental dwelling, it calls to mind the 
fact that on just such a roof as this, certainly in this very 
town, a humble 
fisherman of 
Galilee learned 
the great lesson 
of the brother¬ 
hood of man, 
which, when 
proclaimed, was 
so to revolution¬ 
ize the world, 
that now, within 
the city of the 
Caesars, the most 
magnificent tem¬ 
ple of Christian- house of SIMON the tanner. 














12 


JERUSALEM 


ity, St. Peter’s, bears his name. Until within the last few 
years, saddle-horses, or else a lumbering three-horse coach, 
afforded the only means of transportation from Jaffa to 
Jerusalem, along a highway fairly passable for vehicles. But 
now a railroad has been built over this distance of thirty- 
three miles, and once a day the iron horse draws tourists 
across the plains of Sharon; a railway bridge surmounts the 
brook where David chose the smooth stones for his combat 

with Goliath ; a lo¬ 
comotive’s whistle 
wakes the echoes 
of Mount Zion; 
and the conductor 
might with reason 
call out to his pas¬ 
sengers, en route, 
“ Ramleh, — re¬ 
puted residence of 
Nicodemus and Jo¬ 
seph of Arimathea, 
— five minutes for 
refreshments.” At 
the time of our 
visit, however, 
steam-cars had not yet made their appearance in the land 
of Abraham. Accordingly our party made the journey on 
horseback. 

After one leaves the fertile environs of Jaffa, the land 
grows desolate and sterile. Even the celebrated Plain of 
Sharon is but the shadow of its former self, for its whole 
extent was once cultivated and well watered, and teemed with 
a contented, prosperous population. The hills between this 
and Mount Zion are extremely barren. The rocks reflect the 
sun with angry glare, and only a few trees remind us of the 



RAMLEH. 







JERUSALEM 


13 


splendid forests that once flourished here. Along the road 
are many ruined watch-towers resembling heaps of bones 
gnawed and abandoned by the dogs of time. Once they were 
needful; for until recently this customary path for Christian 
pilgrims was a resort for bandits. In fact, a little town 



A CHARACTERISTIC RUIN. 


between Jerusalem and Jaffa is still called after the most 
famous of Syrian robbers, who, with six brothers and nearly 
a hundred formidable henchmen, was for a score of years the 
terror of the community. 

In the number of its desolate ruins Palestine takes prece¬ 
dence even of the country of the Nile. Hardly a hill-top rises 
in Judaea which is not strewn with vestiges of fortresses or 





H 


JERUSALEM 


cities of a former age, reminding us of constant warfare 
during successive centuries. Accordingly, the secular asso¬ 
ciations of the Holy Land at first overshadow its sacred ones. 

That these gray 
rocks had echoed 
to the shouts 
of Roman le¬ 
gions, conquer¬ 
ing Arabs, and 
the steel-clad 
warriors of the 
Cross, seemed to 
us perfectly cred¬ 
ible. But the 
Jerusalem of our 
childhood — the 
Judaea of the 
Bible —appeared 
at the outset as 
distant from us here as when we had looked forward to this 
tour four thousand miles away. 

When, therefore, our old guide informed us that from the 
next hill we should see Jerusalem, I looked at him incredu¬ 
lously. Then, suddenly, I felt a quick bound of my heart, 
and, spurring my horse on to his utmost speed, I galloped 
furiously to the summit. Jerusalem at last! 

The view of the Holy City as one approaches it from 
Jaffa, is not so broad and comprehensive as from other points, 
C but the first glimpse of its historic walls from any point can 
never be forgotten. No spot on earth appeals so powerfully 
both to the intellect and the emotions. No equal area of our 
globe has been the theatre of events which have so influenced 
the history of mankind. It is the city of Abraham, of David, 
of Solomon, and of Jesus; the city, too, of Titus and of 



THE OLD WALLS. 









JERUSALEM 





Tancred. In one great flood of emotion the old religious 
memories of early years swept over me, until the walls and 
towers grew blurred and indistinct, and I could understand 
the feelings of the old Crusaders, when they first saw this City 
of the Cross, and amid solemn prayers, exultant shouts and 
sacred song, each knee sank trembling in the dust, and mailed 
warriors from distant lands clasped hands and wept for joy. 

Alas! if only we could always feel those first emotions 
which the distant vision of Jerusalem excites! But, as is the 
case in almost every Oriental town, the shock which one 
encounters on a close approach is disenchanting. It is 
true, its massive 
towers are quite 
in keeping with 
our historical 
reminiscences, 
and Arabic in¬ 
scriptions on the 
Moorish gate re¬ 
call the conquest 
of the city by the 
Caliph Omar. 

But swarms of 
pilgrims, tra¬ 
ders, and repul¬ 
sive beggars in¬ 
stantly surround 
us, amidst a 
crowd of horses, 
donkeys, dogs 

, . THE JAFFA GATE. 

and camels,— 

and if we lift our eyes to heaven for relief, we see on one 
of the sacred walls the fin de siecle legend: “Cook’s Tourist 
Office, inside Jaffa Gate.’’ One naturally laughs at this, 










i6 


JERUSALEM 


because it seems as if there were now no spot on earth 
exempt from “personally conducted parties.” But let us 
do this justice to the name thus displayed on the walls of 
Zion: If there be any part of the world where management 
like that of this experienced cicerone is needed, Palestine is 
the place. Here, where practically no traveling conve¬ 
niences existed twenty-five years ago, arrangements have 
been so perfected, that one can now journey through Judaea 

in comparative 
luxury as well as 
safety. We trav¬ 
eled in no “per¬ 
sonally conduct¬ 
ed” party, but 
we did avail our¬ 
selves gladly of 
the system intro¬ 
duced here by 
that friend of 
travelers, and, 
while perfectly 
independent in 
our plans, were 
fitted out with a 
reliable guide, tents, bedding, rugs, mules, horses, five ser¬ 
vants and an excellent cook;—all so excellent indeed, that, 
when outside the city in our tents, we fared much better 
than in a Jerusalem hotel. These comforts and attendance, 
it may be said, we obtained at an individual cost of about 
six dollars a day. 

The first thing we accomplished on the morning after our 
arrival in the Holy City, was to make the circuit of Jerusa- 
lem outside its belt of stone. It is a short excursion, for 

V/ I 

the area of the Holy City is small. The wall inclosing it is 





JERUSALEM 


17 




only two and a half miles 
long, and one can easily 
walk round the city in an 
hour. Even in ancient 
times, although relieved 
by suburbs, Jerusalem 
must have been exceed¬ 
ingly compact, and at 
the period of the He¬ 
brew festivals doubtless 
was thronged with peo¬ 
ple. Small though it be, 
however, a line of fortifi¬ 
cations has environed it 
from the earliest times. 

History and poetry alike 
frequently refer to this, 
as in the Hebrew poet’s exultant ode: “Walk about Zion. 
Go round about her. Count the towers thereof. Mark 
well her mmrn —n rr~i— ■ bulwarks.’’ 


3 


TOWER OF DAVID. 















18 JERUSALEM 

Nor does it seem strange to find the Holy City fortified. 
Its situation naturally makes of it a fortress. Jerusalem is 
emphatically a city set upon a hill. It has an altitude of 


ANCIENT JERUSALEM. 


twenty-six hundred feet above the sea. Built on a natural 
bluff, three sides of it look down on deep ravines which 
take the place of moats, and would, if filled with water, make 
the city a peninsula. Had it possessed a valley on the 
fourth side also, Jerusalem would have been impregnable 
to ancient modes of warfare. The present walls, which were 
built by the Sultan Suleiman in 1542, are of course almost 
worthless now'; for one hour’s bombardment with modern 
cannon would make them fall as flat as those of Jericho. Yet, 
from a distance, Jerusalem still presents the appearance of a 
fortress; for these old battlements are nearly forty feet in 
height, and are marked at intervals by projecting towers. Of 









JERUSALEM 


9 


these the most remarkable, alike for antiquity and strength, 
is the Tower of David, which was the last point in Jerusalem 
to yield when the city was captured by the Crusaders; and 
when the other turrets were destroyed by the Moslems in 
the thirteenth century, this admirable specimen of mural 
masonry was spared. 

The handsomest of the portals which pierce the walls 
encircling Jerusalem is the Damascus Gate. It is compara¬ 
tively modern, as one sees it now, having been built by a 
Mohammedan caliph about three hundred years ago, but ex¬ 
cavations prove that its foundations are of great antiquity. 
Hence we may lose ourselves in endless speculations as to 
the famous men who from this point have gone forth from 
Jerusalem to leave their record on the page of history. Thus, 



DAMASCUS GATE. 


beneath the arch which no doubt rested on these same foun¬ 
dations, Paul may have set forth on his tour of persecution, 
“breathing out threatenings and slaughter” toward all 










20 


JERUSALEM 



Christians in the north, though destined subsequently, in 
Damascus, to become a convert to, and the most powerful 
defender of, the Christian faith. It is positively known, too, 
that through the Damascus gate, in the year 1099, the brave 
of crusader, Tancred, and his followers made their victorious 
entry into the city. 

In one part of the wall, some thirty feet above the 
ground, we saw, projecting from the masonry, a small round 
column which bore a grotesque resemblance to a peg on which 
a giant might have hung his hat. The Moslems have a 
tradition that Mohammed will seat himself on this column 
at the Day of Judgment, to decide the fate of all the people 
who will then be gathered in the vale below. Why he should 
choose to sit astride this uncomfortable shaft, instead of 
occupying a chair on the top of the broad wall, it is difficult 
to conjecture. Here tradition, nevertheless, assigns his seat, 
and from this point, it is affirmed, there will be stretched 
across the intervening valley to the Mount of Olives a bridge 
as narrow as the blade of a Damascus sword, upon which 
every one must walk as the decisive test of orthodoxy. It 
is expected that the followers of the Prophet will glide along 
this elevated road as safely as an acrobat; but that all others 


THE GOLDEN GATE AND MOSLEM GRAVES. 






OLIVE GROVE 







































































































JERUSALEM 


23 


will fall into the valley yawning to 
receive them, and thence will be 
transported to perdition! 

Aside from such absurdities, 
however, the thoughts suggested 
by the belt of masonry which sur¬ 
rounds Jerusalem are most impress¬ 
ive. Transfigured by the lurid 
light of its eventful history, the 
name Jerusalem, or the “City of 
Peace,’' might seem to have been 
given to it in irony. Of all the 
cities in the world, Jerusalem is the 
least entitled to this appellation. 

The “City of Sieges ’’ would be a 
more appropriate title, for it is one 
of the distinctive facts about Jeru¬ 
salem that it has sustained more 
terrible and destructive sieges than 
any city upon earth. It withstood for months many of the 
finest armies of antiquity; and, when compelled to yield, the 
pertinacity and valor of its defenders were punished by an 
amount of cruelty and bloodshed unsurpassed in history. 
How strange, then, that this Hebrew capital, so deeply 



mohammed’s seat. 



WHERE STEPHEN WAS STONED 







24 


JERUSALEM 



stained with 
blood, should 
have acquired 
universal inter¬ 
est, not through 
some mighty 
king or warrior, 
but through 
the ‘'Prince of 
Peace”—an un¬ 



resisting, uncomplaining martyr, who, somewhere on this 
very hill, besought His Father to forgive His murderers, 
and gave a memorable lesson in humility by washing His 
disciples’ feet! 

An interesting relic of the past, suggestive of the sieges of 
Jerusalem, is the fragment of an arch, which was, no doubt, 
the starting-point of the high bridge that rose above a por¬ 
tion of the city, and joined the two great hills on which Jeru¬ 
salem was built,—Mount Zion and Mount Moriah. It 
thrills the be¬ 
holder to stand 
beside the base 
of this huge 
arch, and think 
that on the 
bridge it once 
upheld, the 
Roman con¬ 
queror, Titus, 
advanced to 
hold a confer¬ 
ence with the 
leading Jews, 

when, having AN ]NTERESXING RELIC . 










JERUSALEM 


25 


captured one-half of Jerusalem, he called upon the other 
section to surrender. His offers, however, were treated with 
disdain; for trusting still that Israel’s God would rescue 
them, although the remainder of the city was in ruins, and 
though the Romans had already occupied their Holy Temple, 
the Jews fought on in desperation, to die by thousands round 
the ruined palace of their kings. The world has rarely seen 
a more impressive proof of national faith and heroism. 

At one place in our walk about the Holy City we saw 
some wretched men and women crouching in the sun, and 
sheltered by a 
mass of paving- 
stones. They 
called to us in 
half - articulate 
words, rattled 
tin boxes partly 
filled with coins, 
in appeal for 
charity, and 
finally held out 
for our inspec¬ 
tion fingerless hands and toeless feet. We started back, 
regarding them with mingled horror and compassion, for 
these we knew must be the hideous lepers of Jerusalem, 
about whom we had often read. We threw to them some 
pennies, for which they struggled furiously, the helpless and 
the disappointed ones uttering meantime heart-rending cries. 
Physicians claim that leprosy is not infectious, but we took 
care to keep at a safe distance from these loathsome beggars, 
and, like the Levite of old, to pass, though sorrowfully, on the 
other side. They are, however, genuine objects of compas¬ 
sion, and, as they cannot work, they must be supported 
either by the State or by private charity. Accordingly, it was 



THE LEPER HOSPITAL. 






26 


JERUSALEM 


with satisfaction that we beheld, not far from the Jaffa Gate, 
the hospital erected in 1867 for these pitiable creatures. 
They should all be secluded there; but liberty is still allowed 
them, and they often marry, thus propagating the disease, 
since this unfortunate evil is hereditary. 

It is not strange to find these lepers in Jerusalem; for, 
though by no means limited to the Israelites, that race, when 
in the Orient, has always suffered more or less from this ter¬ 
rible malady. 
Yet the Mosaic 
regulations ■ in 
regard to it were 
very strict. 
Those who had 
any symptoms 
of it were com¬ 
pelled to show 
themselves to 
the priest and 
undergo a seclu¬ 
sion of seven 
days. If they 
were then dis¬ 
covered to be really leprous, they were obliged to live outside 
the town, crying “Unclean, Unclean,” to every one who 
might approach them, and dragging out a life of self-abhor¬ 
ring misery, until relieved by a welcome death. 

Finally, having made the circuit of Jerusalem, we passed 
through one of the gates and found ourselves in a thorough¬ 
fare called David Street. It is precisely in its streets that 
the Jerusalem of the present day is disappointing. Outside 
the walls, along the line of its historic battlements, or look¬ 
ing on the surrounding hills, which are the same as in the 
time of Christ, one feels the dignity and sanctity of the Holy 





A STREET JN JERUSALEM. 









JERUSALEM 


City, and can understand why it was 
said to be “Beautiful for situation, 
the joy of the whole earth,” and why 
the Psalmist cried with passionate 
enthusiasm: “If I forget thee, 0 
Jerusalem, let my right hand forget 
her cunning.” But in its present 
ill-paved, narrow streets, swarming 
with poverty-stricken Hebrews, scowl¬ 
ing Turks and half-crazed pilgrims of 
all nationalities, the traveler is sick¬ 
ened by the filth of the place and STREET beggars. 

wearied by the fraud and fanaticism which everywhere pre¬ 
vail. An effort of the will is needed here to rise above 
the environing physical and moral degradation, and to 
derive inspiration from the memory of the scenes which have 
endeared this city to mankind for nearly twenty centuries. 
Yet it must be confessed that many of its streets are pic¬ 
turesque. In fact, so narrow are the passageways, and 

so high and 
gloomy are the 
adjoining walls, 
that we contin¬ 
ually felt, while 
walking here, 
that we were 
passing through 
the corridors of 
some huge for¬ 
tress. There 
are few outside 
windows in the 
houses, and 
even these are 


AS IN A FORTRESS. 








JERUSALEM 


28 




The most renowned 
City is the Via Dol¬ 
orosa,—believed by 
many to be the route 
along which the Sa¬ 
viour bore His cross 
to Calvary. If it 
could be established 
for a certainty that 
this was the actual 
pathway of the Man 
of Sorrows on His 
way to death, who 
could behold it save 
with tear-dimmed 
eyes? But it need 
hardly be remarked 
that there is no like¬ 
lihood that such is 


either grated or hid¬ 
den by projecting 
lattices. Yet one 
should bear in mind 
that, in all such Ori¬ 
ental residences, the 
light and air are 
gained from inner 
courtyards. Hence 
from these unattract¬ 
ive walls and arches 
one can form no idea 
of the comfort, and 
even luxury, which 
possibly exist within, 
and sacred street within the Holy 












CHURCH OF MATER DOLOROSA 




























































JERUSALEM 


3i 




the case. The general 
direction of the street may 
possibly be the same, but 
its ancient level undoubt¬ 
edly lies forty or fifty feet 
below the pavement of to¬ 
day. The soil on its 
surface surmounts the ac¬ 
cumulation of the wrecks 
of centuries. 

Nevertheless, at one 
place the Via Dolorosa is 
bordered by a structure 
which has for many genera¬ 
tions borne the name of 
the Ecce Homo Arch, and 
is supposed to mark the 
spot where Pontius Pilate, pointing to the guiltless prisoner 
before him, uttered the well-known words,— 1 “ Behold the 
man!” Close by it is a little church, which, like the street 
itself, is often thronged with pious pilgrims. In fact, almost 
every foot of the Via Dolorosa 
is consecrated to some sad 
event connected with the path 
to Calvary. Thus, one spot 
is believed to indicate the place 
where Jesus took the cross 
upon His shoulders; another 
where He fell in weakness; 
another still where He ad¬ 
dressed the women of Jerusa¬ 
lem ; and yet another where 
Veronica, it is said, wiped the 
perspiration from His brow. 


HOUSE OF VERONICA. 









32 


JERUSALEM 



In this street also are the houses of Caiaphas and of 
^ Veronica, as well as that of Dives, before which lay the 
beggar Lazarus. At a neighboring corner, now lighted by 
an ever-burning lamp, Jesus, on His way to Calvary, is said 
to have met His Mother. Some twenty feet from this, there 
is a slight depression in the wall, to which tradition points 
as that caused by Christ’s elbow as He pressed against it in 
His fall. In sight of this, also, is the stone on which the 
thirty pieces of silver were counted out to Judas, as well 
as the column on which the cock crew at the denial of Peter. 
To some readers the mention of these localities may seem 
sacrilegious; but no description of Jerusalem would be com¬ 
plete unless it gave due prominence to these so-called 
“Holy Sites,” which have been revered for centuries by 
thousands. Moreover, though every one of them be dis¬ 
carded as historically valueless, their presence does not impair 












JERUSALEM 


33 



the transcendent value of the Christian religion, nor do they 
in the least detract from the incomparable teachings and in¬ 
spiring life of Him who died upon the Cross. 

However, concerning one portion of Jerusalem tradition is 
beyond question trustworthy. It is the area now occupied 
by the Mosque of Omar. Certain localities in this world have 


MOSQUE OF OMAR. 

been from earliest times reserved for worship. This hill is 
one of them. It antedates by many centuries the age of 
Solomon. Even before the days of Abraham it had been 
used for sacrificial rites; and to this height that patriarch 
came and offered up the ram in place of his son Isaac. Years 
after, in the splendid temple built by Solomon on this site, 
the solemn ritual of the Jews went on for centuries; and, 
finally, for more than a thousand years the hill has been a 
place of worship for the followers of Mohammed. 

Eight handsome gateways open into its sacred courtyard. 
In former times, black dervishes, with drawn daggers, stood 















34 


JERUSALEM 


day and night beside these gates to 
keep the sacred precinct unpolluted 
by the infidel. In fact, till recently, 
no Christian, with rare exceptions, 
was permitted to set foot within this 
hallowed area. But now, save on 
the occasion of a Moslem festival, 
the traveler will have no difficulty in 
entering, if he will pay the required 
fee. At first it may seem strange 
that this old Hebrew site should be 
held sacred by Mohammedans. Yet it 
is easily understood, when we remem¬ 
ber that Mohammed derived most of 
his religious knowledge from the Jews, and looked upon 
Jerusalem as a place sanctified by the prayers of Hebrew 
patriarchs and prophets. 

In this connection it is interesting to recall the fact that 
in their time the Jews were as exclusive as the Moslems. 
Not long ago an archaeologist discovered one of the tablets 
of the Hebrew 
Temple, which, 
verifying the 
statement of 
Josephus, for¬ 
bade strangers 
to enter the 
privileged area. 

It reads as fol¬ 
lows: “No for- 
^ eigner is to step 
within the bal¬ 
ustrade around 
the temple and 



ONE OF THE GATES. 









MOSQUE OF OMAR (INTERIOR). 




































JERUSALEM 


37 


its enclosure. Whoever is caught, 
will be responsible to himself for his 
death, which will ensue.” This gives 
a startling reality to the event narrated 
in the Acts of the Apostles, when 
Paul, suspected of having introduced 
a stranger into the Temple, would 
have been put to death but for the 
prompt interference of the com¬ 
mander of the fortress (the present 
Tower Antonia), who with his soldiers 
hastened to Paul’s rescue. 

The principal building in this great 
enclosure is the Dome of the Rock, 
popularly known as the Mosque of 
Omar. It is a beautiful and graceful structure, embellishing 
and dignifying the entire city. Unlike most mosques, there 
rise from it no tapering minarets, with exquisitely chiseled 
balconies, where the muezzin calls to prayer. Its elegantly 
modeled dome is deemed sufficient; and this, indeed, though 

ninety - six feet 
in height, is so 
extremely light 
and buoyant in 
appearance, that 
it would not sur¬ 
prise the traveler 
much to see it 
rise and float 
away toward 
Heaven, as Mo¬ 
hammed himself 
is said to have 
done from this 



THE DOME OF THE ROCK. 



TOWER ANTONIA. 



















JERUSALEM 


INTERIOR OF MOSQUE. 


very spot. The 
mosque itself 
is in the form 
of a richly 
decorated octa¬ 
gon. The lower 
half of the walls 
is covered with 
white marble, 

—t he upper 
part is an ex¬ 
panse of porce¬ 
lain tiles, whose 
colors blend in 
harmonious 

though intricate designs. Around them also, like a sculp¬ 
tured frieze of blue and white enameled tiles, are inter¬ 
woven passages from the Koran. 

The theology of the builders of this edifice cannot be mis¬ 
understood, for among various 
verses from the Moslem Scrip¬ 
tures here inscribed, are these: 

“The Messiah, Jesus, was 
the son of Mary and Joseph. 
He was also the ambassador 
of God. Believe in God and 
His ambassador, but do not 
say that God is three. For 
God is one, and cannot have 
a son. Pray then to God 
alone:— That is the only 
way.” Moreover, not con¬ 
tent with the religious teach- 
A MOSLEM SHEIK. ings carved upon the walls, 










JERUSALEM 


39 


a Moslem priest, from a beautiful marble pulpit in this 
courtyard, every Friday proclaims to the faithful the signif¬ 
icance and sanctity of all around them. 

Having exchanged our shoes for slippers, according to the 
Moslem requirements, lest we should defile this consecrated 
area, we entered, first, a little gem of architecture, which we 
supposed to be one of the fountains for ablution always found 
in the vicinity of mosques. It is, however, an antechamber 
where the faithful pray before they pass within the mosque 
itself. This graceful pavilion, the walls of which are all inlaid 
with exquisite mosaic, bears the name of “David’s Judgment 
Hall,” for the Moslems claim that King David formerly 
hung a chain here as a test of men’s veracity. All truthful wit¬ 
nesses could touch it without ill effects; but if a liar handled 
it, a link fell off at once,—one link for every lie. At this 
rate it is not surprising that the chain speedily lost its links. 
They long since disappeared. 



THE MARBLE PULPIT. 










40 


JERUSALEM 


From this anteroom for prayer, we advanced to and 
entered the mosque itself. Photography here cannot avail 
us much. An exceedingly “dim religious light ” pervades the 
sacred edifice. For several minutes we could hardly distin¬ 
guish our sur¬ 
roundings, but 
presently per¬ 
ceived that we 
were standing 
on a marble 
pavement part¬ 
ly covered with 
straw matting. 
We seemed to 
be in the foyer 
of an amphi¬ 
theatre. On 
either side of us 
was a curving wall, upheld by marble columns. Occasionally 
a ray of light, through stained glass windows near the roof, 
revealed some glittering mosaics or a sculptured capital. 

“Where did these columns come from?” we inquired. 
“Some of them, doubtless, are relics of the various temples 
reared here by the Hebrews and their Roman- conquerors,” 
was the reply. 

We slowly made our way along the serpentine corridor, 
and gradually understood the singular construction of the 
edifice. It is built in two concentric circles; the outer wall 
of the structure being one, and a corresponding circular 
screen the other; while, in the centre, just beneath the 

mighty dome, is—what? A precious shrine? By no means. 
Some noble work of art? Not at all. What then? A 

bare, rough rock, fifty-six feet in length and forty feet in 
breadth, without a particle of decoration on its surface. 













PLACE OF APPEARANCE TO THE SHEPHERDS. 






















■ 





















' 



















































* 





























I II 





JERUSALEM 


43 


‘ ‘ What! ” we exclaim, “ is it to guard a mass of unhewn stone 
that this magnificent temple has been reared; that these rich 
columns stand in silent reverence; and that its glittering 
mosaics and lamps of variously-colored glass recall Aladdin’s 
fabled cave?” Incredible as it seems, such is the fact. For 
this rock is the natural summit of the hill called Mount 
Moriah,—a real and tangible relic of the great Jerusalem. It 
was revered when Abraham and David knelt on it in prayer, 
when the Ark of the Covenant rested on its summit, and 
when the Son of Man drove from His Father’s house, which 
then surmounted it, those who had made the place a den of 
thieves. There seems to be little doubt that when the Jews 
erected here 
their wonderful 
temple, they 
chose this rock 
as the founda¬ 
tion of its 
sacred altar. 

Beneath it are 
enormous rock- 
hewn cisterns, 
from forty to 
sixty feet deep, 
which served as 
reservoirs of 
water, or as re¬ 
ceptacles for all 
the sacrificial 
blood that 

flowed in great profusion from the Hebrew Temple. Accord¬ 
ingly, few objects in the world are deemed so sacred as 
this rock; and few indeed have such good reason to be 
reverenced. Unfortunately, however, a mass of crude 



UNDER THE ROCK. 





44 


JERUSALEM 



Mohammedan traditions are connected with it. Thus we had 
pointed out to us upon its surface the very spots where Abra¬ 
ham, David, Solomon, and Elijah knelt upon the rock to 
pray. Mohammed also prayed here, and with such earnest¬ 
ness that when he 
ascended thence to 
Heaven, the rock, 
it is related, started 
to follow him, and 
was only held back 
by the Angel Ga¬ 
briel, whose finger¬ 
prints are now ex¬ 
hibited in the stone. 

The Moslems, 
however, claim that 
the rock, uplifted 
thus, never returned 
to its original posi¬ 
tion, and is even 
now suspended in 
the air! There is, 
in fact, beneath it a 
small cave, known 
as the Sepulchre of 

ENTRANCE TO CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. SdomOn IntO tile 

rock above this, Mohammed is said to have driven some 
nails, which gradually work through the stone and drop into 
the tomb below. When all the nails shall have disap¬ 
peared, the Prophet will return to announce the end of the 
world. Three nails are still intact, but we were told *' a 
fourth is on its way downward. The Moslem attenuanr, 
therefore, warns all pilgrims to step lightly, lest they shake 
a nail through, and thus hasten the day of judgment. 




JERUSALEM 


45 


As the Dome of the Rock is the building which Moslems 
deem most sacred in Jerusalem, so the one most reverenced 
by Christians is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, erected 
by the Emperor Constantine, about three hundred years after 
the Crucifixion. It has no architectural beauty. Beyond an 
open space, where petty traders vend their rosaries and 
trinkets with discordant voices in almost every language 
known to man, is a facade which does not in the least sug¬ 
gest the entrance to a religious shrine. There were originally 
two portals here, but one has been walled up, thus making 
the building unsymmetrical. Three marble columns flank 
the open door on either side. One of them has a crack in it; 
and it is believed that from this rift, on the Judgment Day, 
will leap forth the fire that is to destroy the world. Accord¬ 
ingly, the riven shaft has been for centuries kissed by pious 
pilgrims, till now its surface is as smooth as glass. It is well 
to observe this at the outset, for every traveler should pre¬ 
pare himself for what he is to encounter in the Church of the 



ROOF OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 







46 


JERUSALEM 


Holy Sepulchre, before he sets foot beyond its threshold. If 
he is satisfied that what he is to see is genuine, then let him 
enter the church filled with enthusiasm, reverence and joy. 
If, on the contrary, he feels that much of it is the result of 

ignorance and fraud, he should 
not lose his temper, but should 
pass in, philosophically and 
quietly, as to a study of 
humanity, remembering, above 
all, that the hallowing influ¬ 
ence of those events in Christ’s 
life which occurred somewhere 
upon this rocky platform of 
Jerusalem, should not be less¬ 
ened because of the supersti¬ 
tion of a portion of His fol¬ 
lowers. 

The Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre is not so much a 
church, as a sacred exposition 
building. Its enormous roof 
covers a multitude of altars, chapels, stairways, caves and 
natural elevations; and under this one canopy, as if miracu¬ 
lously concentrated into a small area, are gathered almost all 
the places mentioned in the Bible, which could by any pos¬ 
sibility be located in Jerusalem. The “Holy Sites” are 
owned by various Christian sects, who hate each other cor¬ 
dially; so much so, indeed, that officers, appointed by the 
Turkish Government, are always present to protect the 
property, and to prevent the owners from flying at one 
another’s throats. This is, alas! no exaggeration, for deeds of 
bloodshed and violence have frequently occurred here, espe¬ 
cially during the Easter celebrations. Not long ago, during 
Holy Week, a priest of the Greek Church hurled a bottle of 








JERUSALEM 


47 


ink at the head of the Franciscan Superior who was conduct¬ 
ing a procession round the Holy Sepulchre. It missed the 
leader and struck only a deacon; but, though the mark at¬ 
tained was a less shining one, it created a disturbance which 
Turkish soldiers were obliged to quell. 

After crossing the threshold of this edifice, and passing by 
the Moslem guards who are always stationed here to pre¬ 
serve order, the first object we beheld was an altar built 
against the wall. Above it hung an almost indistinguishable 
painting. Before it was a line of gilded lamps, and under 
these a smooth, white stone. “What is this?” we inquired 
in a whisper of our guide. “It is the Stone of Unction,” he 
replied, “on which the body of Jesus was placed by Nico- 
demus to be anointed for burial.” While we were looking 
at this slab, a 
Russian pilgrim 
crept up on his 
knees and care¬ 
fully measured 
it with a string, 
amid repeated 
kisses. 

“Why does 
he do that?” 
we queried. 

“He is meas¬ 
uring it,” was 
the reply, “in 
order to have 

. THE STONE OF UNCTION. 

his winding- 

sheet made of precisely the same dimensions.” A few steps 
from this is the spot where the Mother of Jesus stood while 
the body of Christ was being anointed. Close by this 
was another shrine, known as the “Chapel of the Parted 






48 JERUSALEM 

Raiment.” It is supposed to mark the precise spot where 
the garments of Jesus were by lot distributed among the 
Roman soldiers. It is the property of the Armenians, 
and has been recognized as sacred for six hundred years. 
Near this are other chapels, denoting, respectively, the 
places where Christ was crowned with thorns, where He 


CHAPEL OF SCOURGING. 

was scourged, where He was nailed to the Cross, where He 
appeared to Mary Magdalene after His Resurrection, and 
where the Roman Centurion stood, during the Crucifixion; 
and, finally, we were shown a stone in which are two impres¬ 
sions, said to have been made by the Saviour’s wounded feet. 
We next descended a 'stairway, thirty feet in length, which 
led to the Chapel of St. Helena. This is the property of the 
Abyssinian Christians, and is revered by all the Christian 
sects; for here, it is said, Helena, the mother of Constantine, 
sat while directing the excavations which resulted in the 
finding of the Cross of Christ. 











JERUSALEM 


49 




From this chapel we descended fifteen 
feet further, to reach what is said to be 
the identical place where, after persistent 
digging, the true Cross was brought 
to light, though it had been buried for 
three hundred years. The Empress 
Helena plays an important part in the 
history of Christianity. She was not 
merely the mother of the first Chris¬ 
tian Emperor; she must also be 
called the mother of most of the 
church traditions which have had their 
origin in Palestine. Thus, in this 
particular spot, it is stated that she 
found all three of the crosses—those 
upon which hung the two thieves, as 
well as that of Christ. The 

A GREEK PRIEST. 

problem was to know which 

was the sacred one. To settle this, they were 
all taken to the bedside of a devout woman 
who was very ill. When she beheld the first 
cross she became a raving maniac. They 
therefore tried the second one. 
Immediately she went into fearful 
spasms, and six strong men could 
hardly hold her. Naturally they were 
afraid to bring in the third cross. Still, 
as she seemed about to die, they agreed 
that the third could do no more than put 
her out of misery. Accordingly, they 
brought it in, and at once the afflicted 
woman was completely restored. The 
cross which cured her, therefore, was 
proclaimed to be the Cross of Christ. 


A SYRIAN BISHOP. 


50 


JERUSALEM 


In another part of the church is the Chapel of the Cruci¬ 
fixion, where one beholds what is alleged to be the very Rock 
of Calvary. In this is shown (at present bordered by a rim 
of gold) the rent made in its surface by the earthquake that 

occurred at the time 
of the Crucifixion. 
Nay, more than this, 
one can look down 
into the very hole in 
which the Cross is 
said to have been 
placed! 

Not far from here 
we saw the chapel 
said to contain the 
grave of our first 
parent, Adam. 
Every reader will 
recall the tear which 
Mark Twain here 
dropped in memory 
of our common 
ancestor; and to a 
rational mind nothing could seem more absurd than locat¬ 
ing the grave of Adam near the site of Calvary. But we 
must bear in mind that, to a large proportion of mankind, 
only “seeing is believing.” For fifteen hundred years the 
majority of pilgrims to the Holy Land, coming from the 
steppes of Russia, from the mountains of Syria, from 
Egypt, and even from Abyssinia, expected and demanded 
to see all the localities mentioned in the Bible. This 
demand inevitably created the supply, in order to satisfy 
those who probably needed some such tangible souvenirs 
to help them to appreciate and understand the life of Him 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 





JERUSALEM 


5i 


whom they were taught to reverence. Inspired by intense 
religious zeal, the early pilgrims and Crusaders must have 
gone about Jerusalem intoxicated with their own enthusiasm, 
and utterly undirected by a critical spirit of investigation. 
Hence, as years rolled by, the influence of tradition and 
antiquity gave to these places a sanctity which it is now 
almost impossible to disturb. 

The tomb of Adam is the property of the Greeks, who are 
so proud of it that it is somewhat surprising that their dis¬ 
comfited rivals have not produced the grave of Mother Eve! 
As an instance of the sectarian jealousy that prevails here, it 
may be stated that the Greek Christians, in 1808, actually 
destroyed the authentic monuments of the Crusaders, God¬ 
frey de Bouillon and King 
Baldwin I, for the sole 
reason that, if left here, 
the Latin Church, through 
some technicality, would 
claim the site. There is 
little doubt, moreover, that 
one of the causes of the 
Crimean War was the con¬ 
tentions of the Christian 
sects in Palestine — Russia 
supporting the Greek 
Church, and France defend¬ 
ing the Latins. 

But of all places in this 
famous building, the most 
revered is the Holy Sepul¬ 
chre. It is a little chapel, built of highly-colored lime¬ 
stone, twenty-six feet in length by eighteen feet in breadth. 
Though it has frequently fallen into ruin and been rebuilt 
(the present structure dates only from the year 1808), the 



INTERIOR OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 





52 


JERUSALEM 



site which it still covers has not changed for fifteen hundred 
years. One gazes on it, therefore, with the deepest interest, 
for (genuine or not) no spot on earth has so profoundly 
influenced the fate of Christian nations. It brought about 
one of the most important events of the 
Middle Ages — the Crusades; and for its 
possession and defense the best and bravest 
blood in Christendom was freely shed. 
Other than Christian blood has also 
flowed in its vicinity. For on the 
15th of July, 1099, the victorious 
Crusaders, having finally captured 
Jerusalem, put to death most 
of the Turkish population, and 
then approached the Holy 
Sepulchre barefooted and sing¬ 
ing hymns of praise. As we 
drew near it, a line of pil¬ 
grims stood in front of us; 
another line formed quickly in 
our rear—all eagerly awaiting 
the moment when their turn would come to pass within. 
Several men, as well as women, were weeping and moaning 
at this realization of a life-long dream. At last my turn 
came, and with a feeling of awe, never experienced before or 
since, I stepped alone across the threshold. I found myself 
at first in a little vestibule, ablaze with gilded lamps. Before 
me was a piece of rock encased in marble. It is said to be 
the stone which the angel rolled away from the mouth of the 
sepulchre. Advancing still farther, I stood within a tiny, 
marble-lined compartment, only seven feet long and six feet 
wide. The air was heavy and oppressive, for hanging from 
the ceiling, which I could easily touch with my hand, were 
forty-three golden lamps, kept constantly burning. Of 







SERVICE AT THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 









































* 



























































































JERUSALEM 


55 


these, thirteen belong to the Latins, thirteen to the Greeks, 
thirteen to the Armenians, and four to the Copts. This 
inner room is supposed to be the veritable rock-hewn tomb 
of Jesus, and on a platform, two feet high and six feet long, 
is a marble slab, which covers the rock on which the Sav¬ 
iour’s lifeless body is said to have reposed. It has been worn 
as smooth as glass by the kisses of millions. I was allowed 
to remain here but a moment, since others were impatient for 
my place. Accordingly, returning to the body of the church, 
I looked attentively at those who stood in line, seeking ad¬ 
mission to the Sepulchre. Of course, among so many nation¬ 
alities there is great diversity, but there were many pilgrims 
whom I would rather not meet alone on a dark night. 
There is a saying in the Orient that the worst Moslems are 
the ones who have been in Mecca, and the worst Christians 
those who have 
seen Jerusalem. 

Still another 
proverb says: 

“If thy neigh¬ 
bor has made 
one pilgrimage, 
distrust him; if 
he has made 
two, make haste 
to sell thy 
house.’’ We 
can the more 
readily believe 
this when we 
recall the scenes which take place around the Holy Sepulchre 
at every Easter festival. For then the miracle of the “Holy 
Fire,’’ as it is called may well make angels weep and all 
intelligent Christians shudder with disgust. The Roman 











56 


JERUSALEM 


Catholic and Armenian Christians discarded this function 
three hundred years ago, denouncing it as a gross imposture; 
but the Greek Church still maintains it. 

During the entire day and night before Easter the im¬ 
mense Church of the Holy Sepulchre is literally packed with 
pilgrims. They stand there for hours without food or 

drink, and gradually 
work themselves into a 
frenzy by shrieks and 
howls, and a monoto¬ 
nous wail of “ Hada-Ku- 
ba-Said-Na ’—‘‘This is 
the Tomb of the Lord.” 
Some of these enthu¬ 
siasts have come thou¬ 
sands of miles to obtain 
the “sacred fire,” and 
are determined to do so 
if it costs them their 
lives. Such persons, 
if they have not a good 
position, climb up on the 
shoulders of their weaker neighbors, and run on toward 
the Sepulchre on the heads of others, descending finally into 
the already compact mass in the midst of frightful confusion 
and violence. 

At length, about two o’clock in the afternoon, the Greek 
Patriarch goes within the Sepulchre. There is now a period 
of breathless silence, almost appalling after all the pande¬ 
monium that has prevailed. Presently, nobody knows exactly 
why, it is rumored that the Holy Ghost has descended to 
the Sepulchre in a tongue of flame. A moment more, and 
four or five lighted torches are thrust out through the holes 
which perforate the chapel-walls. Language fails to depict 



RIOTING AT THE SEPULCHRE. 



JERUSALEM 


57 


the scene that follows. Ten thousand men immediately con¬ 
tend like maniacs to get their tapers lighted. Twenty thou¬ 
sand arms leap forward toward the torches of the priests, like 
the leafless branches of a forest swayed by a tornado. Hys¬ 
terical fanatics rush about, searing themselves with lighted 
tapers, as a kind of penance. Many are trampled under foot, 
and some are even crushed to death. On one occasion, 
three hundred pilgrims perished in the church. I11 1895, 
until suppressed by the soldiers of the Sultan, two rival 
Christian factions fought here desperately. 

It is a painful thought that Turkish guards must be sta¬ 
tioned here to check the rioting and fighting of Christians. 
For, in their act of guardianship, they smile sarcastically at 
the so-called followers of the Prince of Peace. If He should 
once more appear upon Mount Zion, He would no doubt 
rebuke these poor misguided worshipers, by whom, per¬ 
haps, He would be murdered again, upon the site of His 
reputed grave! “Such “ says Dean Stanley, “is the Greek 
Easter, the greatest moral argument against the identity of 



TOMB OF DAVID. 





58 


JERUSALEM 


the spot which it professes to honor. Considering the place, 
the time, and the intention of the professed miracle, it is 
probably the most offensive imposture to be found in the 
world. ” 

The question which, above all others, 
suggests itself to the visitor to the 
Holy Sepulchre is, “Can we believe 
that this is the real burial-place of 
Jesus?” Sad as it is to think of such 
continued and wide-spread delusion, 
there is not, in the writer’s opinion, any 
satisfactory proof that Christ was either 
crucified or buried within the precincts, 
or indeed in the immediate neighbor¬ 
hood, of this church. There is no 
need to enumerate here the vexed 
arguments for and against the 
belief; but one thing can be made 
quite clear in half-a-dozen sen¬ 
tences. The Gospels state that 
Christ was crucified and buried 
outside the city walls. But look 
from any eminence in Jerusalem and see how far in toward the 
centre of the city stands the church of the Holy Sepulchre. 
Can we suppose that the boundary lines of this illustrious 
capital in the period of its glory were narrower than they are 
to-day,—especially when the valleys which surround Jerusalem 
leave it but one direction for expansive growth? Besides this, 
the historical evidence in favor of the Holy Sepulchre is also 
unsatisfactory. It is remarkable that no description of the 
locality of the tomb of Jesus is given either by the Gospel 
writers, or by St. Paul, who visited Jerusalem at least twice 
after his conversion. Why was this? Undoubtedly because 
to them the death and burial of Christ were insignificant facts 




POOL OF BETHESDA. 
























































































































































































JERUSALEM 


61 


compared with His resurrection. The early Christians all be¬ 
lieved that Jesus was to return before their generation passed 
away. They therefore gave no thought to the poor 
place wherein their Master’s body had reposed for three 
days. They could have no conception of the centuries 
to come, in which man’s reverence for sacred sites would 
lead him to seek out this sepulchre. Enough for them 
that Christ had risen from the grave and was to reappear at 
any moment in 
the clouds of 
Heaven. 

Yet, while re¬ 
flecting on the 
millions who 
have come to 
Palestine to see 
what they be¬ 
lieved to be the 
actual sepulchre 
of the Son of 
God, we are forced to ask ourselves — Can it be possible 
that a delusion has exerted such a mighty influence in 
human history? But it was not the actual sepulchre 
(genuine or false) which revolutionized the minds of men, 
it was the idea behind it. The fact that Moslems held this land 
to the exclusion of Christ’s followers, is what aroused the 
Christian world to take up arms, and led to Palestine the 
legions of the Cross. The one essential thing was the idea; 
for, as Napoleon truly said, “Imagination rules the world.’’ 

In the opinion of many students and travelers—including 
the writer of these pages,—the probable site of Calvary is a 
remarkably formed cliff, a little beyond the Damascus Gate, 
which from a distance bears a striking resemblance to a 
death’s-head, with natural caverns in the rock suggestive of 



GOLGOTHA. 







62 


JERUSALEM 


eyeless sockets. Since the outlines of this hillock are to-day 
almost certainly what they were nineteen hundred years ago, 
it would not be strange if it had then been popularly called 
Golgotha, ‘‘ the place of a skull. ’ ’ There evidently was a place 

so called, out¬ 
side the city of 
Jerusalem, and 
the peculiar con¬ 
formation of 
this knoll would 
justify the name 
to-day. It must 
always have 
been outside the 
walls, yet, from 
its nearness to 
the Damascus 
Gate, it would 
have been con¬ 
tiguous to one 
of the great thoroughfares to Jerusalem, so that “the 
passers by ’’ could easily have “railed on him.” Moreover, 
this skull-shaped cliff was then, as it is now, in a very con¬ 
spicuous position; and the Saviour’s form upon the Cross 
would have been plainly visible to the “people who stood 
beholding,’’ and to the “women looking on afar off.’’ 4 

Of all the hills that rise around Jerusalem beyond the 
deep ravines, which form almost a circle about the city, the 
most profoundly interesting is, of course, the Mount of 
Olives. Passing from the uncertainties of the Holy Sepul¬ 
chre, one looks on this with genuine satisfaction, for of its 
authenticity there can be no doubt. The eighteen centuries 
which have come and gone since Jesus was wont to retire to 
its slopes at eventide for prayer and contemplation, can have 



THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 




JERUSALEM 


63 


made little difference in its form. It is true, the palm-trees 
that once flourished here, from which the exultant mul¬ 
titude plucked branches to adorn the path of Christ on 
His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, have disappeared, and 
there are now few olive groves to justify its name; but it is 
nevertheless the very hill associated with so many thrilling 
scenes in the life of Christ. Probably, too, the general 
direction of the road that crosses it is the same as when the 
Saviour trod it on His way to Bethany. Moreover, at the 
foot of Olivet is a little area, enclosed in whitewashed walls. 
This is the reputed Garden of Gethsemane. The traveler 
may enter it, for courteous Franciscan monks are always in 
attendance. My first impression here was one of disappoint¬ 
ment. The modern-looking pathways lined with flowers, the 
plants, and carefully trimmed hedges,—what had these to do 
with the historic Garden of Gethsemane? The conservatory 
in the corner, also, 
where the monks 
cultivate their choi¬ 
cest flowers, seemed 
painfully unsuited to 
a place whose princi¬ 
pal characteristics 
were undoubtedly 
retirement and 
purely natural sur¬ 
roundings. But the 
monks maintain that 
to cultivate flowers 

, . , . , GETHSEMANE. 

here is certainly no 

sin, especially as every visitor buys some; while the fine olive- 
oil yielded by the trees, and the numerous rosaries manu¬ 
factured from the olive-stones, are also sold at a high price. 
One must live, they argue, even upon the slopes of Olivet. 





64 


JERUSALEM 




Within this 
enclosure there 
are a number of 
old olive-trees, 
which are said 
to be the very 
ones within 
whose shadow 
Jesus knelt 
in spiritual an¬ 
guish. But this 
is quite impos¬ 
sible. It is well 
known that 

THE GARDEN. 

both Titus and 

Hadrian, in their successive conquests of Jerusalem, cut down 
all the trees in its vicinity, and the Crusaders found this region 
well-nigh destitute of wood. Still, since it is characteristic 

of the olive to sprout repeatedly 
from the same roots, even though 
cut off at the ground, it is not 
wholly improbable that these 
trees have sprung from the 
ones beneath which on the 
midnight air were uttered the 
agonizing words: “Father, 
if it be possible, let this cup 
pass from me!” 

But can we believe that 
this is the exact locality of 
Gethsemane? We know, at 
least, that somewhere 
in this valley at the 
base of Olivet, and just 


j 


TOOL OF SILOAM. 









MOUNT OF OLIVES FROM JERUSALEM. 



































JERUSALEM 


67 



across the brook Kedron, was the secluded spot whither the 
Master came with His disciples after the Last Supper. But 
whether this is the precise location is uncertain. The Greeks, 
for example, have their Garden of Gethsemane a little farther 
up the hill, and are, of course, confident that theirs is the 
right one. To thoughtful and intelligent travelers it should 
be enough that somewhere in this limited area (the whole 
of which is, in a moment, open to the gaze) occurred that 
scene, whose narrative for over eighteen centuries has moved 
unnumbered listeners and readers to repentant tears. 

When one seats himself in a retired portion of the Mount 
of Olives and looks out on the historic landscape, he realizes 
that it is the natural features and associations of the Holy 
Land that really give him pleasure. The life which conse¬ 
crated these Judaean Hills may not have left a trace within 
the church of the Holy Sepulchre, but it has made each por¬ 
tion of the Mount of Olives consecrated ground. No part of 
Palestine is hallowed by so many memories of Jesus as this 
hill; for to its olive groves He often came to escape the noise 
and turmoil of the city, and here He uttered words familiar 
now to millions of our race. It was from Olivet that He 
gazed tenderly upon Jerusalem 

and wept 


PLACE OF THE TREASON OF JUDAS. 



68 


JERUSALEM 



Unfortunately, however, though there is surely enough 
material here for true religious sentiment, it by no means 
satisfies the average pilgrim. Upon the crest of Olivet, 
therefore, has been built the “Church of the Ascension.” 
On entering this, we saw in the floor a small, rectangular 
space, surrounded by a marble coping. Pilgrims were pros¬ 
trating themselves before it and kissing the pavement repeat¬ 
edly. The cause was soon explained to us, for in the pave¬ 
ment is shown a slight irregularity, believed to be the imprint 
made by the right foot of Jesus as He left the earth. 


as He foretold its doom. Here also, more than anywhere 
else on earth, He held communion with His Father, thus 
gaining strength and inspiration for His life and death; and 
we are told that on some portion of this hill, having con¬ 
ducted His disciples out toward Bethany, He gave to them 
His benediction and parted from them forever. 




JERUSALEM 


69 


This is an admirable 
illustration of Palestine, as 
men have made it. Practi¬ 
cally disregarding the hill 
itself, which is unquestion¬ 
ably genuine, thousands of 
pilgrims prefer to crawl be¬ 
neath an arch of masonry 
to worship so-called foot¬ 
prints in a stone! There 
are three kinds of travelers 
in the Holy Land. First, 
those who are wisely content to see the natural localities 
connected with the life of Christ, and therefore gain from 
Palestine the solemn inspiration of its priceless memories; 
secondly, those who lose themselves within the slough 
of superstition there; and thirdly, those who, thoroughly 
offended by the false, forget the value of the true, and 
ridicule it all. 



THE FOOTPRINT. 



BETHANY. 







70 


JERUSALEM 


Just beyond the crest of Olivet lies the little village of 
Bethany. Its site is undoubtedly authentic, and we are 
sure, beyond peradventure, that it was over this same hill, 
and to this very place, that Jesus loved to come to find rest 
in the home of his friends, Lazarus, Martha and Mary. The 
most satisfactory thing, however, for the traveler to do here, 
is to survey from a distance the town and the surrounding 
hills, whose contours have remained unchanged, and then to 
retire. For, if he persists in going nearer, he will experience 

the usual dis¬ 
enchantment. 
The modern 
Bethany is 
a cluster of 
miserable huts, 
without a build¬ 
ing which seems 
to be more than 
a century old. 
Nevertheless, a 
swarm of blear- 
eyed, ragged children greeted us here with cries of “Back¬ 
sheesh, Backsheesh! Tombo Lazarus! Tombo Lazarus!” 
For not only are the ruins of the house of Martha and Mary 
pointed out, but also the tomb from which Lazarus is said 
to have come forth at the divine command. 

We were foolish enough to visit the so-called tomb; and 
descending by candle-light twenty-five slippery steps, we 
reached what seemed to have been originally the bottom of a 
well. 

Again, therefore, at Bethany, as in so many other places 
in the Holy Land, we see that “the letter killeth, the spirit 
giveth life.” In a broad sense, Palestine is still the land of 
Jesus. In a narrow sense, it is not so at all. It is a pic- 



HOUSE OF LAZARUS. 









JERUSALEM 


7 1 




ture of which only 
the grand outlines 
are satisfactory. It 
is sublime in its en¬ 
tirety, but tawdry 
in detail. Even sup¬ 
posing that the pre¬ 
cise localities con¬ 
nected with the life 
and death of Christ 
are still capable of 
identification after 
the dreadful sieges 

and disasters that have come upon them, the question arises, 
Which guide or scholar should we follow of all who have 
written on Jerusalem? There are hardly two of them who 
do not fight each other fiercely, like ecclesiastical gladiators 
in an arena of uncertainty. The part of 
wisdom, therefore, in such a country, where 
almost every stone is made to indi¬ 
cate some sacred spot, which every 
other sect immediately disputes, 
is to fix one’s gaze upon the 
unchanging natural features and 
draw from them the interest their 
unrivaled history inspires. 

The religion of Jesus, which 
still lives in the hearts of mil¬ 
lions, is not dependent on the 
existence of old sepulchres and 
shrines. Its essential monu¬ 
ments are not tombs, but char¬ 
acters; not perishable temples 
upon earth, but a city of God, 


TOMB OF ABSALOM. 






72 


JERUSALEM 


“not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Returning 
from Bethany and Olivet, and walking down the valley 
of the Kedron, beyond the reputed Tomb of the Virgin, 
we came upon a singular monument,— the greater part 
of which is a mass of solid rock, about twenty feet 
square, completely detached from the adjoining cliff. Within 



AT THE BASE OF OLIVET. 


it is a compartment, eight feet square, with spaces on the 
sides for two sarcophagi. Originally, it must have been im¬ 
posing, for it is fifty feet in height, and was adorned with 
columns and a delicately sculptured frieze. As we were 
passing it, our guide picked up a stone and hurled it at the 
monument, spitting meantime upon the ground and uttering 
a curse. “What are you doing?” we inquired: “what is the 
meaning of that heap of stones to which you have just added 
one?” He turned and spat again. “It is the tomb of Ab¬ 
salom,” he said. In fact, both Jews and Moslems believe that 






JERUSALEM 


73 


this surmounts the grave of David’s disobedient son, and 
they take a singular delight in showing thus their detestation 
of treachery to a father. 

Not far from this, we paused to notice on the side of 
Olivet two other monuments. One, like the tomb of 
Absalom, is an enormous block of stone hewn out of the 
adjoining cliff; the other is distinguished by a colonnade, 
behind which, in the hillside, is a kind of catacomb. Noth¬ 
ing is known with certainty about these sepulchres. The 
names assigned to 
them are based on 
no authority save 
that of vague 
tradition. But 
they, of course, 
must have some 
legendary history 
to satisfy the 
memento - craving 
pilgrim. Hence 
one is called the “Tomb of Zachariah;” the other, the 
“Grotto of St. James,” from the belief that the Apostle 
James concealed himself there after the Crucifixion. 

We lingered here some time absorbed in thought; for 
although nothing is known of those who were originally 
buried here, one interesting fact gives to these tombs along 
the slope of Olivet a priceless value. It is that they were 
undoubtedly standing here at the time of Christ. Ruin, we 
know, soon overtook alike the glorious Temple and the build¬ 
ings of the city, of which, as Holy Writ affirms, not one 
stone was to be left upon another; but these old rock-hewn 
sepulchres remain almost unchanged since Jesus walked be¬ 
side them. Upon these very structures, therefore, He must 
have looked; and this fact gives to them a value shared, 



TOMBS OF THE KINGS. 









74 


JERUSALEM 




ENTRANCE TO QUARRV. 


with certainty, 
by nothing else 
of human work¬ 
manship in the 
world. Around 
them, for some 
distance, the hill 
is almost con¬ 
cealed under 
prostrate tomb¬ 
stones. They 
mark the burial- 
place of Jews 
who have by 
thousands toiled 

back to Jerusalem, content if finally their dust might mingle 
with the soil of their native land. 

In our walks around Jerusalem we often found ourselves 
before huge openings in the 
hillsides. One of these is 
called the “Tombs of the 
Kings.” Whether or 
not authentic names 
have been attached 
to them, certain it 
is that all the hills 
around Jerusalem 
are honey - combed 
with rock-hewn sep¬ 
ulchres of great an¬ 
tiquity. They are 
of every shape and 
size. Some have fine 
carvings chiseled in 







TENANTLESS SEPULCHRES. 














THE GROTTO OF JEREMIAH. 



































* 











































































. 













































JERUSALEM 


77 

the stone. The cost of making many of them proves that 
persons of great wealth or rank were buried here. Some of 
their entrances seem to have been closed by stone doors 
turning on socket-hinges, and fastened by bolts on the 
inside. Strangely enough, no inscriptions tell the names 
of their former inmates or even the dates of their entomb- 



POOL OF HEZEKIAH. 


ment, and now the sepulchres are tenantless alike of earthly 
treasure and of human dust. 

But sepulchres are not the only excavations in these hills. 
Among them are the royal quarries, where architects obtained 
the enormous blocks of limestone for the walls and Tem¬ 
ple of Jerusalem. The evidence is abundant that skilful 
stone-cutters once labored in these rock-hewn labyrinths, and 
that in many instances the blocks were carried forth, all 
carved and ready for their appointed place. This, therefore, 













78 


JERUSALEM 


verifies the statement of the Scriptures that, in the building 
of the Temple, the stones were all prepared before being 
brought there; so that neither hammer, nor ax, nor any 
tool of iron was heard within the sacred precincts during its 



ONE OF THE POOLS OF SOLOMON. 


construction. One ol these quarries is known as the “Grotto 
of Jeremiah,” and in its gloomy shadows the prophet is said 
to have written his Book of Lamentations. 

Jerusalem has never had a natural supply of water suffi¬ 
cient for its needs. King Hezekiah did much to improve the 
city in this respect, and Solomon built reservoirs in the hills 

ten miles away,—still known as the Pools of Solomon,_from 

which ingeniously constructed aqueducts brought a copious 
flow of water both to Bethlehem and Jerusalem. For cen¬ 
turies, however, these well-built conduits have been in ruins. 
Now and then one or another of them has been repaired and 
rendered serviceable, but negligence has soon allowed it to 
relapse into its former useless state. The so-called “Pool of 
Hezekiah ” in Jerusalem is an open tank, capable of contain- 





JERUSALEM 


79 


ing four million gallons of water; but this too is in bad repair, 
the bottom is covered with vegetable mold, and since it is 
surrounded by houses, the water it contains is often foul. 
Few people use it, save for washing purposes; but, in sum¬ 
mer, when there is a scarcity of water in Jerusalem, the 
poorer classes sometimes drink it with evil consequences. 

The Pool of Bethesda is in a still worse condition, since it 
has no water at all, is largely filled with rubbish, and even 



POOL OF GIHON. 


receives the drainage from the neighboring dwellings. It is 
a melancholy illustration of decadence that the city of Solo¬ 
mon, which was three thousand years ago abundantly sup¬ 
plied with water, and boasted of its pools of Gihon, Solomon 
and Siloam, is now chiefly dependent upon private wells and 
cisterns. 

No visit to Jerusalem would be complete that did not 
include an inspection of some of the places of transcendent 
interest, lying within a radius of a few miles of the Holy 
City,—Jericho, the Jordan, the Dead Sea, Mar Saba, Beth¬ 
lehem, and Hebron. Excursions to these localities may be 





8 o 


JERUSALEM 


easily made on horseback, even by ladies unaccustomed to 
that form of exercise; and, on a journey thither, the nights 
spent in water-proof tents, carpeted with rugs and furnished 
with every needed comfort, are among the pleasantest mem¬ 
ories of a tour in Palestine. The distance from Jerusalem to 

Jericho, as the crow flies, 
is only thirteen miles. Few 
routes, however, are more 
precipitous and rough; for 
the Plain of Jericho is thirty- 
six hundred and twenty 
feet lower than Mount Zion. 
Moreover, the road is still 
so dangerous that one is 
even more likely now, than 
in the time of the Good 
Samaritan, to fall among 
thieves in making the jour¬ 
ney. The traveler’s safety, 
therefore, lies in being open¬ 
ly robbed at the start, by 
purchasing protection from 
the Bedouins who practically 
levy blackmail on all tour¬ 
ists. There is, however, 
honor among thieves; and 
the Arab tribes that inhabit the hill-country of Judaea agree 
not to molest the traveler, if one of their chiefs has been 
retained by a sufficient fee. 

When I first looked upon the distant Plain of Jericho from 
the mountains east of Jerusalem, it appeared remarkably 
beautiful, and I could understand why it had once been 
called the “Garden of the World,” and Jericho itself the 
“City of Palms.” In fact, palms are known to have been in 
































































































JERUSALEM 


83 


existence here as late as the time of the Crusaders, who also 
found under them some lovely flowers, which they called 
“Jericho roses.” 

But, with the exception of the site of Ephesus, in Asia 
Minor, it would be difficult to find a more impressive con¬ 
trast between past magnificence and present squalor than at 
Jericho. Its history has been eventful. It was the first city 
conquered by the Jews when they entered Palestine, fifteen 
hundred years before the birth of Christ; and from that time, 
for nearly twenty centuries, it was noted for its wealth and 
luxury. Under the Roman conquerors of Syria it was 
rebuilt, and Antony, who for the sake of Cleopatra had 
“madly flung a world away,” gave Jericho to that en¬ 
chantress of the Nile, as her special property, as one might 
offer to one’s love a costly gem. Its palm-girt and well- 
irrigated plain was made world-famous by its palaces, gardens 
and amphitheatres, and here the Roman governor, Herod, 
died. When Christ passed through it on His last journey to 
Jerusalem, it was at the height of its splendor and pros¬ 
perity,—but to-day, of all its opulence not a trace remains. 
Some wretched 
huts clinging, 
like barnacles, 
to the Moslem 
tower called 
the House of 
Zacchaeus, are 
all that now 
remain to hint JERICHO * 

to us that this was once inhabited by man, and the occu¬ 
pants of these hovels are the most repulsive and degraded 
inhabitants of Syria. 

Not far from Jericho, a short ride brings the traveler to 
the River Jordan. It is by no means an imposing stream, 








8 4 JERUSALEM 

being here only about thirty or forty feet wide, and as muddy 
as the Tiber. The current is impetuous, and dangerous for 
bathers, unless they are expert swimmers. A considerable 
number of pilgrims are drowned in it every year, and we saw 
one dead body caught in the bushes on the opposite shoie. 

Thousands of 
Christian pil¬ 
grims come an¬ 
nually, especial¬ 
ly at Easter 
time, to bathe 
in the sacred 
stream ; each 
sect having a 
different bath- 
ing-place, which 
each affirms to 
be the exact 
spot where Jesus 
was baptized by 
John the Baptist. On the occasions of these pilgrimages, 
the Turkish Government guarantees, as it has done for 
centuries, the protection of the Christians from the Bedouins. 
To most of the pilgrims to the Holy Land baptism, or even 
a bath, in the Jordan is one of the most sacred and impor¬ 
tant events of their lives, and they religiously cherish the 
robes, in which they have been immersed, to serve ulti¬ 
mately as their winding-sheets. Most of them also take 
back to their homes bottles filled with water from the sacred 
river. The Jordan has been sometimes praised as being 
beautiful and limpid, and such perhaps it may be in the 
earlier portion of its course, but we agreed that we had never 
seen a stream more desolate and dreary. One might imagine 
that it has a presentiment here of the awful fate which 



A MIDDAY MEAL IN PALESTINE. 



JERUSALEM 


85 


awaits it close at hand, of being stifled in the brine of the 
Dead Sea. Swift and sullen, it here rolls through a land 
of desolation to a sea of death. 

The first glimpse of the Dead Sea, as we descended 
toward it from the site of Jericho, was a great surprise. It 
seemed to us as fair a sheet of bright green water as we had 
ever looked upon, and it sparkled in the sunlight like a limpid 
lake. Could it be possible, we asked ourselves in astonish¬ 
ment, that this.was the Dead Sea? When we arrived at its 
shore, however, there was no longer any doubt. It was the 
climax of the dreary plain over which we had come. There 



THE JORDAN. 

was no sail upon its surface, no sign of life within its waves. 
Some shrub-like vegetation fringed the shore, but that, like 
everything else in the vicinity, was covered with a white, 
salt crust, and looked as if it had been smitten with leprosy, 
while branches of dead trees, brought hither by the Jordan, 







86 


JERUSALEM 


lay on the sterile shore like the distorted limbs of monsters 
that had died in agony. 

The Dead Sea fills the deepest depression known on the 
surface of the earth, and is sunk, like a monstrous cauldron, 
between mountains three and four thousand feet in height. 

It is nearly four 
thousand feet 
below the city 
of Jerusalem, 
which is only 
twenty miles 
away, and thir¬ 
teen hundred 
feet below the 
level of the 
Mediterranean. 

We found 
its atmosphere 
even in mid¬ 
winter extremely sultry; and in summer, after long months 
of exposure to the full power of the sun, it must be almost 
unendurable. Of course, we tried a bath in its waters. It 
was a singular experience. To go beyond one’s depth one 
must wade out to a great distance. In doing so, however, 
there is no danger, as it is impossible for a person to 
sink, so saline is the water. We found it even hard to 
swim, owing to the difficulty of keeping our feet under water. 
At every stroke we found that we were merely kicking the 
air. It might be possible to dive, but we preferred that some 
one else should make the experiment, for the salty ingre¬ 
dients are disagreeable enough upon the skin, without allow¬ 
ing them to enter one’s eyes, nose and mouth. On coming 
out from the bath, our sensations can best be described by 
saying that we felt as if we had been immersed in mucilage. 



GUIDES. 







JERUSALEM 


3 ; 



The Dead Sea is the Greek, and comparatively modern, 
epithet applied to this vast lake. The Hebrews called it the 
Salt Sea. As is well-known, it has no outlet, and all the 
water which it receives from the Jordan and other streams is 
carried off by evaporation. This alone might not explain its 
extraordinary saltness, which is nearly seven times greater 
than that of the ocean; but to this there is added another 
reason, in the fact that at one end of it is a salt deposit, sev¬ 
eral miles long. Great as is the depression of the surface, its 
own depth is also enormous, being in one place no less than 
thirteen hundred feet. 

From the Dead Sea our route led upward through the 
wilderness of Judaea. Neither words nor views can ade¬ 
quately represent the desolation of this frightful area, seamed 
with a thousand 


sterile gorges. 

Even the Sahara 
is less dreary. 

The African 
desert has a cer¬ 
tain beauty in 
its boundless 
sweep of sand, 
now level as the 
surface of a tran¬ 
quil sea, now ris¬ 
ing into gently 
rolling waves. 

But the Judaean THE WILDERNESS ° F J^ A - 

wilderness is a series of absolutely barren and appalling 
mountains, divided from each other by great chasms, 
flanked with frowning precipices, as if the country had been 
gashed and scarred by demons. It would be like a horrible 
nightmare to think of being lost in these Judaean cartons, 






88 


JERUSALEM 




where every drop 
of water is drained 
away, every vestige 
of vegetation has 
vanished, and noth¬ 
ing is visible but yel¬ 
low, burning sand 
and rocks. Birds, 
beasts and men 
shun the region, as 
if smitten of God. 
It was in this wil¬ 
derness that Jesus 
is supposed to have 
fasted forty days; 
and it is difficult to 
imagine any one, 

THE CELL OF SAINT SABA. . ... 

human or divine, 

doing anything else in such a place. From the earliest cen¬ 
turies of Christianity ascetics and anchorites have resorted 
to this wilderness 
for fasting and 
prayer, and one 
old monastery still 
remains, clinging, 
as it has done for 
ages, to the barren 
rocks. It is the 

monastery of Mar 
Saba. From the 

precipitous cliff, on 
which it hangs 
like a wasp’s 
nest, one can 


















APPROACH TO BETHLEHEM. 















.. 
















' 


























































































































































































































































JERUSALEM 


9 i 


drop a stone more than a thousand feet into the sombre 
depths of a chasm. Here, in the fourth century after Christ, 
the monk, Saint Saba, came to live in solitude and spend 
his days in prayer. Eventually hundreds followed him, and 
made for themselves homes in the recesses of this frightful 
gorge. At last, for mutual preservation from starvation 



and protection from the Bedouins, this 
monastery rose, strong as a fortress, 
and almost as substantial as the cliffs themselves. Sentinels 
are always on duty at its iron gate, through which alone an 
entrance can be gained. We were admitted only when our 
dragoman had satisfied those within as to who we were. 
Never can I forget the night spent at Mar Saba. The rock- 
hewn rooms in which we lodged, the bell that called the 
monks to midnight prayer and rang out weirdly on the 
desert air, and the pity inspired by the lonely ascetic life of 
these poor monks,— made the few hours passed in this 
Judaean monastery among the most impressive of my life. 






9 2 


JERUSALEM 



Leaving Mar Saba early the next morning, we gradually 
rode up from the wilderness, and far on in the day beheld, 
framed in a mass of old gray olive trees illumined by the set¬ 
ting sun, a village which we knew was Bethlehem. Surely 
if any place on earth should breathe of peace and good-will 
to mankind, it is this town of David, consecrated by the birth 
of Christ. But, alas! the reception given us was anything 
but peaceful. A veritable mob of beggars and street venders 
swarmed out to meet us on the road, and, in an uproarious 
babel of strange tongues they thrust upon us rosaries, 
crosses, beads, stars, canes and numberless other trinkets, all 
of which they declared were sacred, since they had rested on 
the Star of the Nativity. Our dragoman did not hesitate to 
strike a number of these hawkers with his whip, and I remem¬ 
ber seeing one of them receive a cut across the face which 
must have disfigured him for many a day. 

It is said that the inhabitants of Bethlehem are the fiercest 
and most lawless of any in Judaea, and that in riots and other 
disturbances they are invariably the ringleaders. Our own 
experience was sufficiently depressing, and, even now, it is 
impossible for any of our party to recall Bethlehem without 
the remem- brance of 

that noisy 


CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY. 



JERUSALEM 


93 


and persistent mob, whose vociferations were still ringing in 
our ears as we finally hastened through the door, and entered 
the Church of the Nativity. It is an enormous edifice, 
consisting of a church and three convents-, belonging respect¬ 
ively to the Latins, the Greeks, and the Armenians. Here, 
as in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, every 
spot that can be 
thought of in 
connection with 
the birth of 
Jesus is pointed 
out. Thus we 
were shown the 
place where the 
three wise men 
knelt, to give 
their presents to 
the new-born 
child. This is 
marked by a 
marble slab, and 
is surmounted by a painting representing the scene. Near 
this is the spot where the horses of the Magi were fed; the 
place where Joseph stood; the place where the ass was 
tethered; the ‘‘Milk Grotto,” where Mary nursed her child; 
and even the locality where twelve thousand of the infants 
slain by the order of Herod were buried. But these of 
course do not vie in sanctity with the spot where it is said 
the Saviour of the world was born. That is called the 
Chapel of the Nativity, and was evidently once a cave. 
Believers in its authenticity maintain that it was at that 
time used as a stable, and was situated below the little 
caravansary, from which the Holy Family was excluded 
because “there was no room for them in the inn.” Its walls 



CHAPEL OF THE NATIVITY. 










94 


JERUSALEM 


are now of marble, and a silver star in the pavement marks 
the place where the manger stood. 

There is this to be said in favor of the genuineness of the 
site of the Nativity: the tradition in regard to it is far 
older than the time of Constantine and his mother, Helena. 


Early in the second cen¬ 
tury the place of Jesus’ 
birth was affirmed to have 
been a cave close to the 
village of Bethlehem. The 
Empress Helena caused a 
church to -be erected 
there, some portions of 
which still exist. Hence, 
it is the oldest existing 
Christian sanctuary in the 
world; and it is a touching 
fact that the Crusader, 
Baldwin I, when made King 
of Jerusalem, refused to 
wear a crown of gold in 
the city where his Lord 



WOMAN OF BETHLEHEM. 


and Master had been crowned with thorns, and therefore 
selected this church in Bethlehem, rather than Jerusalem, 
for the place of his coronation. 

Close by the Chapel of the Nativity, and covered by the 
roof which canopies them both, is the tomb of Saint Jerome; 
and beside it we were shown the cavern in which that vener¬ 
able father labored and prayed for more than thirty years. 
Here he achieved his immortal work of translating the Scrip¬ 
tures into the Latin tongue, and here also he wrote no less 
than one hundred and fifty epistles, sixteen theological 
treatises, and thirteen volumes of commentaries. And 
finally, here occurred the touching incident which has been 




GROTTO OF THE NATIVITY 












































JERUSALEM 97 

immortalized by Domenichino, in his painting entitled “ The 
Last Communion of Saint Jerome.' 

From Bethlehem our route led on, a few miles farther, to 
Hebron, the earliest seat of civilization in- Palestine, and one 
of the oldest cities in the world. Here Abraham resided; 
here he received the three celestial visitors, and here his tomb 



PILGRIMS AT BETHLEHEM. 


is to this day. Hebron was also David’s capital for the first 
seven years of his reign, till he transferred the seat of his 
sovereignty to Jerusalem. It is, accordingly, gratifying to 
find in a town of such antiquity some relics of the past whose 
genuineness cannot be questioned, although their age sur¬ 
passes that of all the other genuine memorials of Bible char¬ 
acters. To see these with safety, as soon as we arrived in 
Hebron, we made arrangements with the chief of the com¬ 
munity, Sheik Hamza. He did not look like one possess¬ 
ing much authority. In one hand he held a pipe to solace 
his old age, while with the other he grasped a knotty stick. 






9 8 


JERUSALEM 


which served him in turn as a sceptre and an instrument of 
discipline. The favor of this Sheik is, nevertheless, quite 
essential, for the Arabs of the place are noted for their 
hatred of all unbelievers; and the old spirit of intolerance, 
which once prevailed throughout the whole of Palestine and 

made the entrance of a 
Christian to the Mosque of 
Omar an impossibility, still 
burns in Hebron bosoms 
undiminished by the lapse 
of years. 

Properly protected, how¬ 
ever, we made our way 
without difficulty to one of 
Hebron’s famous relics,— 
its ancient reservoir of 
water, constructed of huge 
blocks of carefully hewn 
stone. Accustomed, as we 
were, to find fictitious 
names and dates assigned 
to almost everything in Palestine, it startled us to learn that 
this reservoir was probably built in the time of David, three 
thousand years ago. Such, at all events, is the opinion of 
most archaeologists; for cisterns like this and the celebrated 
“Pools of Solomon” were absolutely essential even in earliest 
times in a land like Palestine. Built with such solidity, they 
could last for centuries, and repairs, when needed, could be 
easily made without disturbing the original site. The Bible 
states that David put to death within this town the murderers 
of the son of Saul, and hung their lifeless bodies by the 
Pool of Hebron. It may, therefore, be surmised that, since 
no trace of other ruined reservoirs has been discovered any¬ 
where in this vicinity, this is the identical basin described. 



SHEIK HAMZA. 






JERUSALEM 


99 


But of far greater interest than this Pool of Hebron is an 
object now enclosed by the massive walls of a Moslem 
mosque. The Christian traveler may survey their exterior 
at a respectful distance, but if he places- the slightest value 
on his life, he should not try to enter the enclosure. Be¬ 
neath the mosque, which these high battlements surround, 
there is a cave. It is the cavern of Machpelah, which Abra¬ 
ham, on the death of his wife Sarah, purchased as a family 
burial-place,^ nearly four thousand years ago. Here he him¬ 
self was also buried; and, later on, within this cave were laid 



POOL OF HEBRON. 


to rest Isaac and Jacob, with their wives,—Jacob’s body 
having, at the patriarch’s request, been brought from Egypt 
to be placed here by the side of his wife, Leah. Moreover, 
since it was embalmed, after the manner of Egyptians, his 
features probably remain well-nigh intact to-day. 










100 


JERUSALEM 


It is humiliating to admit that neither Jew nor Christian 
can to-day stand beside the tombs in which repose the found¬ 
ers of the Hebrew nation. But such is the fact; for the 
Mohammedans guard with jealous reverence the tomb of 
Abraham, for whom their name is “The Friend of God.’’ 


It is a singular 
coincidence 
that such a title 
should be given 
him by Mos¬ 
lems, for in the 
Epistle of St. 
James we read 
these words: 
“Abraham be¬ 
lieved God, and 
it was imputed 
unto him for 
righteousness: 
and he was 



abraham’s oak — hebron. 


called the Friend of God.” Of course, no illustrations of 
the tombs themselves can be obtained so long as such restric¬ 
tions exist; but one may view at least the entrance to the 
patriarch’s sepulchre, guarded by solid masonry and iron bars. 
By a special firman from Constantinople, in 1862, the Prince 
of Wales was admitted here, attended by Dean Stanley. In 
1866, a similar favor was accorded to the Marquis of Bute; 
and three years after to the Crown Prince of Prussia, the late 
Emperor Frederick. One can imagine, therefore, what 
chance there is for ordinary tourists to enter. 

According to the accounts of those who came here with 
these princely visitors, the tombs of Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, 
and Leah are in separate apartments lined with marble and 
approached through silver gates. The place of honor, in the 








THE BANISHMENT OF HAGAR 













JERUSALEM 


103 


centre, is occupied by the tomb of Isaac. Between the 
tombs of Abraham and Isaac is a circular opening; and it 
appears probable that the structures which are seen are 
merely modern cenotaphs, the actual sepulchres being in a 
subterranean cavern at a still lower depth. The floor of the 
enclosure is covered to some depth with pieces of paper, 
which represent the accumulations of centuries. They are 
written petitions to Abraham, which pious Moslems have 
dropped through an aperture above. 

“Is this the real cave of Machpelah?” we inquired. 
“Can this be the actual tomb which Abraham acquired forty 
centuries ago, with all the formality and care revealed in the 
description given of that bargain in the Book of Genesis?” 
It seems at first incredi¬ 
ble ; but there are many 
arguments in favor of its 
genuineness. In the first 
place, a tomb like this, 
cut from the solid rock, 
would (if not purposely 
destroyed) endure as long 
as the surrounding hills. 

Again, since Abraham 
was a distinguished man, 
and a powerful leader at 
the time of his death, it 
was at once revered as an 
especially sacred burial- 
place, the sanctity of 
which increased as time went by. Neither Jews nor Chris¬ 
tians, Arabs nor Crusaders, have ever shown the slightest 
disposition to disturb the graves of those illustrious dead. 
In fact, the evidence is so remarkably complete that few, if 
any, are disposed to question it. Undoubtedly, the time 













104 


JERUSALEM 


will come when the exclusion practiced by the Moslems 
will be overruled, and this extraordinary relic of antiquity 
will be thrown open to Christian eyes and thoroughly 
explored. But even now, the fact that Hebron holds the 
cavern of Machpelah, in which four thousand years ago were 

buried the great patriarchs of the 
Hebrew race, gives to this region 
of Judaea a unique importance and 
undying fame. 

Our visit to Hebron naturally 
recalled to us that lovely painting 
in the Dresden Gallery, portraying 
Hagar driven from the house of 
Abraham, and going forth with her 
child Ishmael to live and die in 
exile. How little did the patriarch 
think, when he reluctantly con¬ 
sented to that sad expulsion, that 
the descendants of the outcast 
Hagar would for a thousand years 
exclude the offspring of her rival 
his tomb! Yet so it is. The rock- 
hewn sepulchres of Abraham and Isaac have been for cen¬ 
turies protected by the sons of Ishmael. 

Filled with the memories awakened by the patriarchs’ 
graves, on our return to Jerusalem we visited one of its most 
impressive features. It is an ancient wall, consisting largely 
of huge blocks of stone, which once formed part of the old 
Hebrew temple. This to the Jews is by far the most sacred 
portion of the city. What matters it to them that Christian 
sects wrangle or worship round the Holy Sepulchre, or that 
Mohammedans kneel in prayer within the Mosque of Omar? 
They know that these colossal fragments of the time of Solo¬ 
mon antedate by a thousand years even the oldest of all such 



WOMAN AND CHILD — HEBRON. 


Sarah from all access 



JERUSALEM 


105 


memorials. Here, every Friday, century after century, the 
wretched exiles from Mount Zion have come to kiss or bathe 
with tears these relics of their former glory. Now they are 
free to do so; but in past ages they have paid enormous sums 
to their oppressors for this miserable privilege. 

It is a most pathetic instance of a nation’s grief. No one 
who has a particle of sympathy with human sorrow can gaze 
upon that sight without emo¬ 
tion. For, while some read 
aloud from the Old Testa¬ 
ment words which describe the 
splendor of the Hebrew mon¬ 
archy, others moan and sob, 
and beat their trembling hands 
against the wall. Their grief 
is evidently genuine, for I saw 
tears on many a cheek, espe¬ 
cially when such plaintive pas¬ 
sages from Holy Writ as these 
were read: “How hath the 
Lord cast down from heaven 
to earth the beauty of Israel! 

How is the gold become dim 
and the most fine gold changed! 

Our holy and our beautiful house, wherein our fathers 
praised Thee, is burned up with fire. We are become a scorn 
and a derision to our neighbors. Oh, Lord! behold, we are 
Thy people. Remember not our iniquity forever. Oh! let 
Thy tender mercies speedily redeem us! We are brought 
very low. 

What wonder that they mourn? For nineteen dreary cen¬ 
turies their history has been one almost uninterrupted trag¬ 
edy. Scattered throughout the world, scorned of all nations, 
they have been forced to suffer every form of persecution 








io6 


JERUSALEM 


which men have been sufficiently cruel and ingenious to 
invent. Words fail to depict their sufferings. To tor¬ 
ture, rob and exile them, the despotism of a hundred kings 
has been exhausted. They have been bought and sold as 
slaves. The plague which devastated Europe 
in the Middle Ages was ascribed to them, with 
horrible results. In France, throughout whole 
provinces, every Jew was burned. 
In Germany, too, their history for 
centuries is a hideous chronicle of 
human cruelty. Even in England 
their persecution, sketched in outline 
by Sir Walter Scott in Ivanhoe , is 
nothing to the lurid picture which he 
might have drawn. 

As for Spain, no land in the world 
has equaled this, the birthplace of 
the Inquisition, in wreaking cruel 
wrath on the unoffending Jew. 
Many were here buried alive. In 
one year, in Seville alone, two 
hundred and eighty are said to have perished in the flames. 
Hebrews themselves consider their terrible expulsion from 
Spain a misfortune equaled only by the ruin of their 
Temple. We shudder at the brutal policy of Russia 
toward the Jews to-day, but let us not forget that all 
other Christian nations, except free America, have acted 
in a similar way when they had reached Russia’s present 
stage of civilization. In the thirteenth century, all Jews 
were banished from Great Britain and their property was 
seized. In 1390 they were expelled from France; and 
in 1492, the very year which witnessed the discovery of 
America by Columbus, they were cast forth from Spain, 
where they had lived protected by the Moors for six hundred 



JEWISH LADY AND MAID. 





JEWISH PLACE OF LAMENTATION. 





































JERUSALEM 


109 


years, to wander through the world as hated exiles, and fre¬ 
quently to perish of starvation or by the slower agony of the 
slave-whip. If received at all in many Christian cities, they 
were hived in certain limited districts, like the Ghetto at 
Rome. Moreover, by a refinement of torture, Jewish chil¬ 
dren under fourteen years of age were taken from their par¬ 
ents, and retained in Spain and Portugal to be brought up as 
Christians, so that, in their madness, Hebrew mothers would 
sometimes murder their own offspring and then commit sui¬ 
cide. And why was all this misery in¬ 
flicted on the Hebrew race? Because the 
Jews were said to have crucified Jesus. 

But as a matter of fact the Jews did not 
crucify Jesus. It was the Romans who 
scourged Him, put the crown of thorns 
upon His brow, and finally nailed Him to 
the cross. True, the Jews solicited His 
death. But how many of them? Only a 
priestly sect in Jerusalem. Is it fair to 
condemn an entire people for the sins of a 
few, and above all to persecute their 
innocent descendants after hundreds of 
years have come and gone? That 
would be a dangerous precedent to 
establish! According to that, we ought 
to persecute the Greeks for causing 
Socrates to drink the hemlock; the 
Italians, because so many martyrs were 
thrown to the lions in the Roman Colos¬ 
seum ; the Florentines for burning Savona¬ 
rola; the English for the flames of Smithfield; the Spaniards 
for the horrors of the Inquisition. 

The Jews are not the only people who have rejected and 
put to death their teachers and reformers. Such conduct is 



ZION GATE, JERUSALEM. 





I 10 


JERUSALEM 


as old as history. In any case, what right have certain 
nations (themselves not without sin) to act as executioners? 
“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.’ 

Does it seem credible, therefore, in view of the fact that 
Christian baptism has usually offered to the Jew an avenue 

of escape from all these 
horrors, that after nine¬ 
teen hundred years of such 
calamitous persecution, 
one genuine Hebrew can 
be left who has not ex¬ 
changed his faith for the 
religion of his tyrants ? 
Even in Russia, now, a 
Jew may rid himself of 
many restrictions by be¬ 
coming a Christian. Here, 
indeed, is the marvel of 
it all,—the miracle of his¬ 
tory,—that in direct op¬ 
position to all motives of self-interest, the Jews not only 
have remained, but still remain, sublimely loyal to their 
fathers’ faith. Nothing has shaken or divided them. They 
have survived the empires which sought to destroy them. 
Without a country, without a common, living language, and 
without one political bond of union, they nevertheless exist 
to-day a perfectly distinct and indestructible race, exulting 
in their glorious past! 

And what a past is theirs! We need not dwell upon the 
fact that they have given to mankind the Bible; that the 
sublimest of religious prophecies, and the most eloquent of 
sacred songs, were written by the Jews. We need not even 
elaborate the startling truth that from Judaea have come 
forth the three religions which so influence the race—Juda- 



A MERCHANT. 






JERUSALEM 


111 

ism, Christianity, and Islamism. Let all that for a moment 
go, while we consider later history. Through the darkness 
of the Middle Ages, when most of Europe lay in densest 
ignorance, the Jews still held aloft the torch of learning. 
They (with the Moors) were then the scholars of the world. 
From their ranks came the ablest financiers, the profoundest 
philosophers, and the most remarkable physicians. And even 
now, despite their persecution, the influence of their race is 
still paramount in Jerusalem. 

A short time ago a band of wretched Jewish refugees from 
Russia landed on the Syrian coast. They were well-nigh 
starving, and tottering from weakness. Babes were dying at 
their mothers’ breasts. They were rescued by means of the 
Hebrew colonial fund, and finally proceeded toward the 
shrine of their race 
—Jerusalem. 

Before them rose 
the magnificent 
Russian church 
built on the Mount 
of Olives, perhaps 
upon the very place 
where Jesus uttered 
the words: “What¬ 
soever ye would 
that men should do 
to you, do ye 
even so to them.'’ 

Imagine those Jew¬ 
ish exiles, to whom the very name, “Russia,” was synony¬ 
mous with torture, looking on that gilded shrine and 
asking: “Who are the people worshiping in that church,— 
Jews?”—and receiving the answer: “No, Russians, worship¬ 
ing a Jew!” “Who are the thousands praying in the 



RUSSIAN CHURCH — OLIVET. 








I 12 


JERUSALEM 


church of the Holy Sepulchre,—Jews?” “No, Christians, 
worshiping Jesus of Nazareth!” “Who are the hundreds 
kneeling in the Mosque of Omar,—Jews?” “No, Moslems, 
praying there because it is hallowed by the memory of He¬ 
brew patriarchs.” 

Truly, the Jew, persecuted though 
he be, may smile in triumph; for 
wherever he looks about him in Pales¬ 
tine, from the undoubted tomb of 
Abraham to the reputed sepulchre of 
Jesus, he sees the followers of Christ 
and Mohammed all zealously guard¬ 
ing memorials of his own race. And 
what must be his secret pride, when 
he reflects that every word of the 
Christian Bible was written by Jews, that the Moslem Bible, 
the Koran, is founded on the Jewish faith, and that the 
entire Christian world worships Jesus of Nazareth as divine, 
and a vast proportion of it also reverences a Jewish woman 
as the Mother of the Son of God! 

In a place so thronged with classic and religious memories 
as Palestine, even a man who has no Hebrew blood in his 
veins may indulge in a dream regarding the future of this 
extraordinary people. Suppose a final solution of the “East¬ 
ern Question.” Suppose the nations of the earth to be 
assembled in council, as they were in Berlin a few years ago. 
Suppose the miserably governed realm of the Sultan to be 
diminished in size. Imagine some portions of it to be gov¬ 
erned by various European powers, as Egypt is governed by 
England at the present time. Conceive that those Christian 
nations, moved by magnanimity, should say to this race which 
they, or their ancestors, have persecuted so long: “Take 
again the land of your forefathers. We guarantee you its 
independence and integrity. It is the least that we can do 



GAMBETTA. 


JERUSALEM 


1 13 


for you after all these centuries of misery. All of you will 
not wish to go thither, but many will. At present Palestine 
supports only six hundred thousand people, but, with proper 
cultivation it can easily maintain two and a half millions. 
You are a people without a country; there is a country with¬ 
out a people. Be united. Fulfil the dreams of your old poets 
and patriarchs. Go back,—go back to the land of Abraham.” 

But were this dream realized, could the Jews become a 
nation? They certainly have produced great statesmen. 
Who does not recollect Gambetta, that indefatigable hero of 
the French nation after its terrible defeat by Germany? He 
was a Jew. So was Count Von Arnim, the German diplo¬ 
mat. So was Lasker, the liberal leader of the Prussian par¬ 
liament, the only man in that assembly whom Bismarck really 
feared. Jews were some years ago the Mayors of the prin¬ 
cipal cities of England, including Lon¬ 
don ; while, in less than a century 
after their political disabilities had 
been removed in England, the 
Premier of the Queen’s domin¬ 
ions, the virtual sovereign of 
the British empire, was the 
Hebrew, Benjamin Disraeli, Earl 
of Beaconsfield. You recollect 
that when he was taunted once 
in Parliament with being a Jew, 
he rose and answered: “Yes, I 
am a Jew, but let me remind 
the honorable gentleman that, disraeu. 

when his ancestors were savages on the banks of the Thames, 
mine were princes in Solomon’s temple!” 

What have they done in modern literature? 

The most eloquent orator and the most brilliant writer 
in Spain, Emilio Castelar, is a Hebrew. 


^ 3 ^ 



4 


JERUSALEM 


The majority of the professorial chairs in Germany are 
occupied by Jews. Two-thirds of the journalism of Europe 
to-day is said to be controlled by Hebrews. Out of three 
hundred and seventy authors in the Austrian Empire, two 
hundred and twenty-five are Jews. The poet Heine was of 
Hebrew descent; so was the German novelist, Auerbach. 
And the Hebrew Spinoza was the father of modern philoso- 
phy. 

In art and music it is the same. Once give the Jew a 
chance, and he springs into the front rank of his competitors; 
the splendid genius of the race leaping into flame like a row 
of lights, when the torch is passed along the line. Thus Mun- 
kacsy, the Hungarian painter, was a Hebrew. So were the 
famous actresses Rachel and Janauschek. So is that woman 
of surpassing histrionic genius, Sarah Bernhardt. It is im¬ 
possible to enumerate all the musicians found among the 

Jews, but we may mention Mosch- 
eles, Wieniawski, Joachim, and 
Rubenstein, as well as the mighty 
composers, Halevy, Rossini, Meyer¬ 
beer and Mendelssohn. 

How is it in finance? 

Here they are unrivaled. The 
Jews are the bankers of the world. 
The banking business of the Aus¬ 
trian empire is managed by He¬ 
brews, who could foreclose and ruin 
many of the nobles who in society 
treat them with disdain. The 
principal banker of Prussia is the Hebrew, Bleichroder; while 
the Jewish house of the Rothschilds controls the diplomacy 
of empires. 

The Jews, we know, are often reproached with being 
merely financiers, and with doing little or nothing in indus- 



CASTELAR. 


JERUSALEM 


115 



SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE. 


trial or pastoral pursuits. But why is this? Because until 
recently everywhere, and even now in certain portions of the 
world, the Jews have not been allowed to own a foot of soil, 
or to enter any manufacturing guilds. 

Accordingly, being restricted to finance, 
they have taken their revenge by man¬ 
aging the money commerce of the world. 

Again, the Jews are often blamed 
because of their fondness for gems. 

But for centuries they were compelled 
to carry their wealth in that portable 
and easily secreted form, since, when¬ 
ever suspected of having property, 
they usually escaped having their teeth 
pulled, or their nails drawn out by the roots, only by yield¬ 
ing it up to their persecutors. 

We all dislike the petty avarice of small Jewish traders, but 
let us in charity remember that they are but exhibiting the 
traits that centuries of persecution have ground into them. 

“ Our deeds still travel with us from afar, 

And what we have been makes us what we are.” 

The death of that grand benefactor 
of his race, Sir Moses Montefiore, 
reminded us of another characteristic of 
the Jews,—their philanthropy. He was 
so well known for his benevolence, that 
on the one hundredth anniversary of 
his birth (in 1884), he received the 
homage of the civilized world; and 
he it was who first proposed the scheme cf rescuing his 
persecuted brethren and forming them into well man¬ 
aged colonies in various countries. This scheme was ably 
seconded by his successor in benevolence, the late Baron 
Hirsch, whose charity was on a scale unprecedented in the 



BARON HIRSCH. 


JERUSALEM 


116 

annals of philanthropy, for he gave fifteen million dollars for 
the relief of his outcast co-religionists! Russian tyranny, 
therefore, colossal though it was, encountered Jewish charity 
more colossal still. The first exemplified the record of 
a down-trodden race; the second stood for justice and hu¬ 
mane treatment in the years to come. We cannot doubt 
which of these forces will finally overcome the other, under 
the influence of Him who in His 
earthly life was born of a Jewish 
mother and was to all intents and 
purposes a Jew. Yet, notwithstand¬ 
ing these facts, perhaps some reader 
of these words may say: “It is all 
true, but—we do not like the Jew!” 
But shall we not take a broader and 
kindlier view than that? Rising 
above individual likes and dislikes, 
let us ask ourselves if it is, or ever 
has been, consistent for Christian 
nations to oppress and despise the people who gave to them 
their patriarchs, their prophets, their Bible, their religion and 
their Saviour. Nearly nineteen centuries have come and 
gone since Jesus died upon the cross. Surely it is time for 
His teachings of charity and the brotherhood of man to pre¬ 
vail among his followers. For— 

“ New occasions teach new duties; 

Time makes ancient good uncouth; 

They must upward still, and onward, 

Who would keep abreast of Truth: 

Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires! 

We ourselves must Pilgrims be, 

Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly 
Through the desperate winter sea: 

Nor attempt the Future’s portal 
With the Past’s blood-rusted key.” 



LECTURE I 


NORWAY 


^HE first lecture of the series Mr. John L. Stoddard 
devotes to NORWAY, and he furnishes a strik¬ 
ingly realistic portrayal of this land of the Sagas and 
Vikings. The 128 illustrations — reproductions of 
photographs made for Mr. Stoddard on the spot — are 
worthy accompaniments of the sparkling text. 

As we read it we fancy ourselves sailing up the 
picturesque fjords and whirling along the mountain- 
roads— on, onward from Christiania, through scenery 
varied by cascades and precipices — on till we reach 
the North Cape, and view, just above the waves, 

THE MIDNIGHT SUN 


This first lecture will be sent, post-paid, on receipt 
of the introductory price charged for the second lecture. 




JOHN L. STODDARD’S 
LECTURES 


Illustrated and Embellished with Views of the World’s 
Famous Places and People, being the identical discourses 
delivered during the past eighteen years under the title of 
The Stoddard Lectures. 


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JOHN L. STODDARD’S 
LECTURES 

WHAT IS THOUGHT OF THE FIRST VOLUME 


“The frequent use of anecdotes gives a life to Mr. Stoddard’s pages 
that they would otherwise lack. The illustrations are the next best thing 
to visiting the places themselves. If Mr. Stoddard never does anything 
more, these ten volumes will be a worthy monument of his life work.”— The 
Chicago Tribune . 

“ I do not remember that I have ever seen as handsome a book. * * 
It is simply superb. The illustrations are unexcelled, and the text is limpid 
and pleasant and easy, and takes me back again to the delightful hours 
when I sat and heard it recited, and looked upon the pictures in larger, but 
not more beautiful form. Stoddard is an ideal lecturer, and his work is an 
ideal work.”— Janies Charlton , General Passenger Agent Chicago &* Alton 
Railroad. 

“ During the past twenty years Mr. Stoddard’s lectures have done 
more to educate the American public in literature and the arts, and bring 
before them the great world and its people, their histories and customs, 
than any other one hundred persons have accomplished. * * * are so 
beautifully described and so magnificently illustrated that it does not seem 
possible to wait for Vol. II.”— New Haven Union. 

“ The lectures are certainly very interesting indeed, and I believe the 
book as it stands is the handsomest thing I have ever seen in the shape of 
a book, the illustrations, paper, and binding being A No. i .''—Chas. S. Fee , 
General Passenger Agent Northern Pacijic Ry. 

“To attend a course of lectures by Mr. Stoddard is a liberal educa¬ 
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have those lectures in one’s library, published in such artistic form and with 
illustrations which represent the very highest standard of art, is indeed a 
boon.”— AIbany Times - Union. 


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LECTURE III 


JERUSALEM 


1 \/T R. JOHN L. STODDARD devotes the third 
^ lecture of the series to Jerusalem and its 
environs, conducting us to spots familiar by name 
to all Bible-readers, and recounting, in his inimitable 
way, the religious and historical associations of each. 
Under the magic of his words, time and space are as 
naught; we stand where Jesus stood, we gaze upon the 
same scenes that the Disciples knew. What a flood of 
ideas overwhelms us! We linger on the Mount of 
Olives, we look wistfully upon a landscape changed and 
darkened by the vicissitudes of nineteen centuries. An 
alien race now dwells where Christianity had its lowly 
birth, but no alien faith can bar its march. It has gone 
forth to the uttermost ends of the earth, and, as tokens 
of its power, we see to-day gorgeous shrines and 
churches erected here by nations beyond the sea. 

120 ILLUSTRATIONS 

all of them reproduced from special photographs, adorn 
the text and heighten the reader’s interest. 

Lecture III will be sent, postpaid, at the same low 
introductory price asked for ATHENS and VENICE. 






















































LECTURE IV 


SWITZERLAND 


Our next tour in Mr. John L. Stoddard’s agreeable company 
will be to a land where Nature seems to have been most prodigal 
of scenic beauty and commanding grandeur. Ice-sheeted moun¬ 
tains zigzag the horizon, darkling crevasses beset our way, and from 
their inaccessible lairs creep forth those frozen rivers that are the 
wonder of scientists and the delight of sightseers. Mr. Stoddard 
very considerately refrains from taking us into actual dangers, but 
he tells enough of mountain-climbing in the Swiss Alps to show the 
perils braved. Besides the glaciers and the picturesque villages that 
cling to the mountain-side in defiance of the avalanches, there are 
the lakes and waterfalls to interest us. We stand in Chillon’s 
historic dungeon, where Bonnivard was chained, we pause amid 
scenes familiar to Voltaire, Rousseau, Gibbon, and Byron, and we 
feel a deeper thrill at history’s lessons when we realize what this 
sturdy little republic has accomplished. 

121 Illustrations, 

exquisite reproductions of Mr. Stoddard’s specially prepared photo¬ 
graphs and others, place this lecture on the same artistic level with 
the three preceding ones— Norway, Athens-Venice, and Jerusa¬ 
lem, and it will be sent, postpaid, at the same special price. 


THE LAKESIDE PRESS, R. R i DONNELLEY * SONS COMPANY, PRINTERS, CHICAGO. 

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